Hellfire
by Isabelle S
Summary: Demons and Hunters were like oil and water. In this case, Adeliza was the oil, and the Winchesters were the water. Trapped in a seemingly neverending cycle of debts, at first she wanted nothing more than to snap their necks and go about her business. But that's a little difficult when angels are added to the equation. Wars have begun, and so has the Hellfire. [Season 4 onward] [OC]
1. Prologue

Adeliza had a grin on her face as she slid her phone number over to the man beside her, very aware of his not-so-subtle glances down at her upper chest area. Nonchalant, she sipped a glass of wine, the red substance staining her lips scarlet. A red lipstick mark was left where her lips once were, and she set the glass down once again.

The man next to her was _hot,_ and a girl had to do what a girl had to do if she wanted to have a good time tonight.

Then, just as she was about to order another drink, she sensed someone trying to make a bargain with her. Gritting her teeth, Adeliza tried her best to ignore it. _All I want is one day off... Is that too much to ask?_

Soon, the nagging feeling in the bottom of her stomach was too much to ignore, because she was being summoned.

 _"Oh, come on already, show your face, you bitch!"_ a voice sounded in her mind, the ritual sending a communication link until she answered.

"Excuse me?" Adeliza scoffed aloud. The man next to her jumped, quickly diverting his eyes away from her. He thought she meant him. She flashed him a quick grin. "oh, not you, sweetie. If it were up to me we'd be in the ally banging against the dumpster. Maybe another time," she smirked.

Adeliza appeared in front of the infamous hunter, Dean Winchester. Normally she would think it as a score, but at the moment she was impatient. She assumed he was here for one reason - there were rumors of his brother, Sam Winchester, dying, and Dean was offering proof that the rumors were correct.

"Just because you're a customer doesn't mean it's my job to satisfy you, Winchester. If you want your brother back, you better stop running that mouth of yours for a second."

"I should send you straight back to hell," Winchester spat, grief ridden and angry. Not her problem, but it might be her gain. She just had to play her cards right, and maybe she'd manage to get out of this alive _and_ with a soul deal.

" _You_ summoned me." Adeliza said dryly. "Please, I'd rather be somewhere else, so go right ahead."

Winchester scoffed. "There are a hundred other demons who'd love to get their hands on my soul, and it's all yours. All you gotta do is bring Sam back..." he trailed off. "And give me ten years - ten years, and then you come for me."

Adeliza snorted quietly. Winchester glared at her, affronted, and Adeliza elaborated. "If it were up to me, I'd give you ten years, I don't care where your ass goes and when it plants itself there. But, it's not up to me, it's up to your public enemy number one. Lilith wouldn't even allow _five_ years."

"It's five years or no deal." Dean said stubbornly.

"No deal, then." she said indifferently, turning on the spot and beginning to walk away. He would crack, she knew he would. She'd had her fair share of soul deals, and just because Winchester was famous didn't mean he was a special snowflake. She waited a few seconds, clearly expecting his next action.

"Wait!" Dean called, near desperate. Adeliza resisted the urge to give in, because she knew that she'd be mounted on the wall for giving him such a bargain. Truthfully, she wanted to get the deal over with and get her ass back to the bar. She turned to face him again. "What do I have to do?"

Adeliza debated it for a few minutes, having an internal battle. She sure wouldn't mind if Lilith got smoked, and it seemed like the Winchesters were her best chance of that happening. And, they had killed Azazel, her torturer, so she supposed she, in a way, owed them one... _Look at me,_ she mused to herself, _convincing myself to help the enemy._

"I... I shouldn't do this, I could get skinned alive." Adeliza paused again, trying not to look at Dean's hopeful expression. Bastard. "But, you owe me one. I'm giving you the best deal I can give you, and I'm not even sure if I could give you it."

"What kind of favor?" Dean asked warily.

"I'll let you know when I need one, trust me. Or don't. I really don't care." Adeliza rolled her eyes, muttering under her breath. She was going to regret this. "I'll give you a year, alright? Exactly one year, starting today, and your brother's as good as alive. So.. What do you say?"

In hell, Adeliza could get tortured for such a charitable deal. John Winchester didn't even get a day, she couldn't imagine the riot that'd get started if she gave Dean Winchester a year. The more she thought about it, the more nervous she got. But, she wasn't given a chance to back out, because Dean grabbed the demon and kissed her, the deal already sealed.

Not a moment afterwards Sam woke up on his bed, confused and disorientated.

Adeliza pulled back, and a voice sounded in her head, one that belonged to none other than Lilith. She fell to her knees, her hands clutching her skull, and Adeliza let out a shout of pain.

 _"WHAT THE_ HELL _DID YOU DO?!"_


	2. You Owe Me

Adeliza had been to hell many times throughout the centuries, and had been tortured about as many times as a dog barked, but not one time had the pain faded any less than the day before. In fact, she'd say that it only increased. After giving Dean Winchester too good of a deal, she had Lilith to face, which ended up with a personal trip to her and Alistair's "Toy Box" as they called it, which sums up to the highest form of torture that only so many souls had been sent to endure.

Even Dean Winchester was brought in to torture her once, and he had been the one to set her free. But, she wouldn't forget the last words she heard before he was dragged off back into his own personal torture chamber to be punished.

 _"You owe me five!"_ He had screamed.

Did she _want_ to? Hell no. She didn't _ask_ him to free her, but he did, and now she owed him back.

 _How stupid_ am _I?_ She asked herself, scoffing slightly. This crossroads gig had really brainwashed her. Hell, being Lilith's bitch brainwashed her. This 'I gotta stand by all deals' message had been scorched into her little corrupted soul. It was like telling a person with epilepsy not to have a seizure at this point.

The torture lasted for fifteen months - or, one hundred and fifty hell years - until she was finally released back to the overworld, where Adeliza was essentially banned from ever returning to Hell, or making a soul deal ever again. A few demons had sent her a message; to make a long story short, it resulted in Adeliza having some more blood on her hands.

"Banished," Adeliza snorted, looking in the smudged and stained mirror as she applied her favorite shade of lipstick. The modern world was fascinating, even more so than her Victorian days growing up in Britain, before she had adopted the American accent much later down the line. Well, she did have a hint of a _Spanish_ accent, but that came from often speaking fluently in her second language.

Then, a familiar yet unpleasant feeling in the pit of her stomach started up again. Adeliza closed her eyes and exhaled, recapping her lipstick and putting it back into her purse. She strapped the purse around her leather-clad shoulder before disappearing on the spot, and reappearing in front of Sam Winchester, the younger brother who Dean had sold his soul to bring back to life.

Sam, his eyes haunted and exhaustion coming off him in waves, shakily held up a knife to her, a tremor in his voice as he spoke. "Y-You bring Dean back, and you can have my soul right now." He looked utterly pathetic, really. But, as Sam had trapped her in a Devil's Trap, she had no choice but to remain in the same spot.

"I can't do that." Adeliza said, her eyes flashing black in a way to get that damn Winchester on his guard again. What a pathetic _wimp._ If it had been any other demon showing up on this idiot's command, he'd be a laughing stock for the rest of his life. It seemed to work, as Sam straightened up and his hunting instincts kicked in.

Sam nearly snarled at her as he walked forwards, gripping Adeliza by her neck and holding the knife up to her throat. "Take my soul!" He shouted, a desperate undertone in his voice. His breath reeked of alcohol, and if Adeliza knew one thing, it was never to take a soul deal from a drunken wreck - not that she could even give him a soul deal.

"I. Can't." Adeliza repeated calmly. "Once I gave your brother a year," Sam flinched, the grip on her neck tightening instinctively. Lucifer, this guy was touchy. "My crossroads right was shattered. I _can't_ take a soul deal. But, if you want to give me a useless kiss, go right ahead." she added, resisting the urge to smirk in front of the unstable hunter. "Or, if you want to call another demon, please do. I doubt they'd take the deal."

If it were up to her, she'd have skinned this drunken mess with a snap of her fingers. But she owed Dean Winchester.

Maybe, she thought, that if she helped Sam Winchester, it'd knock one of the favors off of her bucket list. She'd rather have four than five. And, when she was done, Adeliza would be off to do whatever freelance demons do.

"I-I tried," Sam slurred slightly, and she realized that if he wasn't drunk, he would've killed her on the spot. He dropped the knife to the floor and accidentally wrecked the Devil's Trap on the way to the motel couch. He slouched down in his seat, putting his face in his hands. "I tried fucking _everything!_ I even tried to get a witch to _clone_ him, damn it!" he shouted. "WHY'D YOU DO IT?!" he stopped, lowering his volume to barely a whisper as he looked back up at Adeliza. "Why'd you do it?" Sam repeated miserably.

Adeliza was a demon - she couldn't baby a hunter. Even if she wanted to, (which she didn't. She really, _really_ didn't.) it wouldn't work, and she would end up dead. Instead, she tried treating him like a man and tried to make him act like one. She walked up and snatched the beer out of his hand, setting it to the side. Then, she yanked him up by his collar, slapping him across the face once.

"Good Lucifer, Winchester, you're a hunter, not a prissy teenage girl! Take a shower, get sober, and _maybe_ I can find a way to help you out."Adeliza ordered.

"Why?" Sam muttered suspiciously. Even in his drunken haze these hunters were such stubborn pains in her ass.

"Consider it a way to repent my sins." She responded. Sam gave her a flat look. In a way, she agreed. Adeliza was a _walking_ sin. "Look. I'll even get back in the damn Devil's Trap." she added, fixing it up and stepping it inside, either sealing her death or gaining a sliver of his trust. Either way, she didn't care about the outcome.

 **THE NEXT DAY**

The younger Winchester must've passed out on the bathroom floor, because Adeliza was stuck in that Devil's Trap for an entire night. She was a demon, so she couldn't exactly get tired or sleepy, but she could get _bored._ Hell, she welcomed a fight with a Winchester, anything to get her out of that cage. The worst part of being alone with no distraction was her own mind, pestering at her to cause some chaos.

Alone with her thoughts, Adeliza could recall when she was just a little girl, walking around with books stacked upon her head, her posture perfect and that dreaded corset restricting her movement, but at thirteen years old she still managed to make it look like a walk in the park. Everything was so painfully _simple_ back then, and looking back on it, she sneered at the sheer _humanity._

Demons had souls. Corrupted, yes; Tainted, yes; but, souls were souls, and all souls had at least a scrap of each emotion in them.

"What the hell?!" A voice shouted, disrupting Adeliza's thoughts. Sam held a gun out in front of him, pointing it directly at Adeliza's head. "Who-" then, he seemed to remember, pausing slightly. "You said you were going to help me," he said slowly. "Why? Who are you?"

"I'm Adeliza, and I have a debt to pay."

"You're a demon." Sam repeated, his eyes darkening vengefully.

Adeliza scoffed lightly, her eyes rolling for what seemed like the hundredth time. "while I may be a piece of shit, I'm an honor-bound piece of shit." Adeliza's eyes traveled to the avalanche of beer cans littering the floor of the motel, signalling to her that he had been holed up here for quite some time. "Christ, Winchester, are you a man or a mouse?"

"You let my brother sell his _soul_ to you," Sam snapped defensively, his grip on the gun handle visibly tightening. Emotional mess.

"I get it. You two are in a cycle of sacrificing yourselves for each other, not giving a crap about yourselves until the other's injured." Adeliza crossed her arms in annoyance. "But no amount of wagering is going to get your brother out of that place, so either you going to keep drowning yourself in beer and sorrow, and let Dean Winchester rot six feet under... or you can get off your ass and start looking!"

Sam was silent. He _did_ need help, and _he_ couldn't possibly force _himself_ to set himself straight. But this chick was a demon - who knows? Maybe she could be plotting his death.

 _But do I really care about that anymore?_ A voice in the back of his mind mused.

Sam looked back up at Adeliza, a look of sheer determination visible on his face. "If you try anything, I'll kill you," He said slowly, and scraped the chalk off the devil's trap, destroying it.

Adeliza appeared behind him, eyes turning black, and Sam spun around with his gun in hand. He swung at her once, and she let out a laugh, effectively grabbing the weapon out of his hand and chucking it to the side. "Lesson number one, Winchester. Never trust a demon," she lectured, and walked over to his fridge.

She wrinkled her nose. Lucifer, did this guy have anything other than _plants?_ "Okay, herbivore, I can _smell_ the rust on you from a mile away. Get your hunting skills fixed up," glancing at his 'food' choices - if you could even call it edible - she added, "and go grocery shopping."

Sam stared at her warily. Seriously? Not one moment before, she'd just kicked his ass, and now Adeliza was criticizing his diet.

"Sam!" another female voice shouted, suddenly appearing in front of him. Adeliza only raised her eyebrows as Sam let out a loud shout. _Ruby._ She narrowed her eyes at the other demon. "You can't go a _week_ without finding another demon?" Ruby asked irritably.

"Ruby!" Adeliza greeted with no ill intention. Aside from Meg, this was an ally of hers. So far she hadn't been double crossed, nor had she any problem with Ruby thus far. She looked Ruby's vessel up and down, and then she smirked. "You're looking good these days."

"You, on the other hand," Ruby said, visibly relaxing when she realized who Adeliza was, "look like _hell."_ Eh, she could've gone for a worse joke. "So, what, now two demons are on the side of the Winchesters?" she added wryly, her eyebrows raising ever so slightly.

"Winchest _er._ The emotional one's still dead," Adeliza corrected lightly. She didn't seem to be too concerned with the fact like Ruby did.

Sam look between the two. "Wait, you guys _know_ each other?" he asked dubiously, getting more and more confused by the second. "And you're _friends?"_ Did demons even _have_ friends? And should he even be doing this? But... he did need the help, and two demons on his side was better than nobody on his side.

"Yeah, we're gals pals," Ruby supplied, sarcasm lacing her tone. "Friend's a... _strong_ word. We're business partners. Allies - "

"Lovers," Adeliza purred, and - despite her own disgust - succumbed, and committed the mutiny of taking a bite out of a carrot. _Plants,_ she grimaced to herself.

At Sam's puzzled look, she rolled her eyes. "A joke. Now, we're going to need a battle plan, fellas."

So the three sat around the table, Ruby holding the sketchpad, Adeliza and Sam discussing the plan. For a moment he'd forgotten that they were demons. But that was his first mistake, Adeliza had told him many times.

Demons, no matter how much they try, are _not_ human.


	3. I'm With You

**ONE MONTH LATER**

Adeliza turned to Sam, and with an irritated snap of her finger, the demon that had tackled him to the floor looked directly towards her. She was fully ready to kill the demon effortlessly with a simple decapitation, but, unbeknownst to her, Sam had a different trick up his sleeve.

Shooting his hand to point at the demon, Sam's concentrated hard, a vein in his temple throbbing from the effort. The demon began to choke and the soul of the demon dispersed from the vessel's mouth, leaving a dead body on the floor and a shocked and slightly disgusted Adeliza staring at him.

"You demented little fucktard!" She shouted, causing Sam to jump and look at her in confusion. "You're drinking demon blood, aren't you?"

"So?" Sam said, a defensive note in his voice. "It's not like it's harmful – I just exorcised that creep with my _mind."_

Adeliza closed her eyes, inhaling deeply to keep from exploding at Sam for all the reasons why he should never even _think_ of demon blood again. "First of all, _I'm_ a demon, so I'm kinda offended. Second of all, once demon blood's in your system, it can't get out until you stop. And you won't be _able_ to stop _,_ so when someone tries to force you, you'll die." She said calmly, and with a snap of her fingers the body disappeared.

"I won't let it get that far," Sam shot her a glare and wiped his knife off on his pants. Who was _she_ told be criticizing _his_ choices?

She let it go rather quickly, and her sudden change in attitude rendered him speechless for a few seconds. "I feel like pizza," she stated, and transported them to their motel room. Room 402. "I'm getting pineapple, what do you want, Samuel?" she asked, then looked over to Ruby, who was busy torturing another demon for information. _Oops,_ she thought, _I forgot about that._ "And you too, I guess."

"Uh, cheese is fine," Sam stated, confused at her indifference. And also, a little annoyed at the use of his birth name. He'd asked her to call him something - _anything_ else - but she told him that 'Winchester' was reserved, and apparently so was 'Samantha'.

"Cheese is good for me too," Ruby spoke up, "I'm just finishing up." and, taking Sam's knife from the table, she stabbed it into the demon's heart. Adeliza cleaned up the mess with a snap of her fingers.

Truthfully, the demon blood enraged her. First off, she _was_ a demon, and the thought of freakish hunters sucking her blood didn't settle well in her stomach. They were all civil with each other and could be counted on to not kill each other, but trust was a strong word. A really, really strong word when it's the monster and the monster-hunter working together. And it's a make or break word when the monster-hunter is drinking monster blood.

She gave Ruby a sidelong glance. Nope, she definitely didn't trust _her_ either. Adeliza knew a thing or two about Ruby; the demon wasn't _faithful,_ she just went to the biggest bully on the playground. And, as of now, that was the Young Winchester and his freakish abilities.

The hunt for Lilith was just a bunch of dead ends. Every time they caught a trail, it led to a dead end, or just a semi-powerful demon whom - with both Adeliza and Ruby's combined forces - they could kill with only a bit of a struggle. So they'd decided to take a little break. You know, to catch a breather, or whatever humans needed when they got frustrated. And, in this case, Adeliza knew that the best solution was to devour an entire pineapple pizza by herself. She didn't need food but she sure as hell liked the taste of it.

A half hour later, Adeliza was beside herself with impatience. It was sort of amusing to the other two, seeing the demon slowly drive herself crazy over a pizza. She'd tapped her fingers on the table, removed and reapplied her red lipstick, threatened to revolt against the 'hunter lifestyle' and destroy humanity, and then practically tripped over herself when there were three firm knocks on the door.

"Hold on, cowboy," Ruby snorted, wiping off her leg with a towel. She'd just finished cleaning off the blood that had soaked through her pant leg, and Adeliza thought she looked like a painted whore at the moment. But in a _friendly_ way. "You're going to slaughter the pizza man."

Childishly, Adeliza sunk down into the sofa, throwing her head back in exasperation. Ruby stood in the door frame, and - while casting her a glance - Adeliza could see a look of clear confusion on her fellow demon's face. "So, where is it?" she asked impatiently.

"Uh... where's what?" a deep, yet familiar voice said on the other side. She just couldn't put her finger on it...

"The pizza... that takes two guys to deliver?" Sam's head snapped up, alarmed. Two guys? Adeliza had only been on the Christ Heist for so long, but even to _her_ that sounded sketch. Quietly, Sam passed her a dagger and he had his knife behind his back, ready to slice anyone if the situation arose.

He slid next to Ruby, slinging an arm around her shoulder, and looked up at whoever had knocked at this hour. Adeliza saw his face turn a ghostly pale, then he completely lashed out and swiped at the person with the knife.

Okay, who the hell was in the doorway? An angry sasquatch was a dangerous sasquatch. There'd be blood spilled tonight.

This thought in her mind, she stood back, arms crossed and a smirk making little dimples in her cheek.

What? The man was sexy when he was angry. She may be a monster, but Sam Winchester went above and beyond her standards. Ruby let out a fake shriek and ran over to Adeliza, then leaned in. "Get out of here," she hissed, glancing over at the fight. Adeliza had one vessel: her original once since birth. There was no way that Dean wouldn't be able to recognize her.

She winked at Ruby. "You have my number when you bitches need me," she joked lightly, then zapped the hell out of there.

The fight stopped, and the brothers were reunited once more. Sam knew that it wouldn't be long before Bobby and Dean sniffed out the demon, so he opted to tell Ruby to leave. Thank _God_ Adeliza had left already... he wouldn't tell his brother about Ruby, but he'd haveto tell him about the _other_ demon.

Still, he waited about an hour before he brought it up. "Hey, uh, Dean... You know that crossroads demon? Adeliza?" he asked cautiously.

Dean's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, I do, Sammy _._ But how do _you?_ " he questioned. He hadn't told Sam about her _name,_ just her general appearance. Sam could've rolled his eyes. He _still_ thought that he had raised Dean from hell? They'd covered this forty-five minutes ago, and the accusations were getting reallyannoying.

"She's sort of been... helping..." Sam trailed off.

Dean backtracked, raising his eyebrows at him. " _What?"_ he and Bobby chorused at the same time, both looking _beyond_ displeased at this new piece of information.

"You know, looking for Lilith. She owes you, but since you were dead, she owed me. Dean, it's not as bad as it sounds - she hasn't gone all 'vengeful demon betrayer' on anyone yet," Sam hurriedly tried to convince his brother, who was getting more and more worked up by the second.

A _demon?_ Hadn't they learned that demons _always_ screw you over in the end? Dean, a plan formulating in his head, clenched his jaw and nodded, smiling tightly. It twitched a little. "Well... share with the class, Sammy, where _is_ this knight in shining armor?"

Sam fumbled with his phone, shooting her a quick text. Not a second later Adeliza had appeared next to him, two boxes of their lost pizza in hand. Dean gazed at her, scrutinizing. She didn't _look_ like she was about to kill everyone in the room. But... he _was_ a hunter...

He swiped up the demon knife from the coffee table and swiftly - before Sam could even process what was going on - stabbed it into her chest. He waited for the flash of lightning to erupt through her body, and for her eyes to roll back into her head, and for her to collapse to the ground. But none of that happened. Instead, she pulled the knife out of her chest, frowning down at her breasts.

"Come _on,_ Winchester, did you have to scratch the merchandise?" she asked irritably, then tossed the _real_ knife to Sam. She set the pizza boxes down on the coffee table and sat down across from them in the spare armchair, crossing one leg over another. "I snatched the real knife. Don't trust you as much as I do Rapunzel over there."

"Had to try," Dean flashed her a faux smile. He turned over to his brother and hissed, "Seriously, Sam? A _demon?_ You're working with a friggin' _demon?"_

"Oh, my feelings are hurt!" Adeliza drawled, taking a bite out of her pizza. "I could've killed the guy five times and over today _alone,_ so I wouldn't worry your pretty little face about Mr. Hyde." she wasn't stupid. Those Winchesters, Sam included, would kill her in a heartbeat if she made one wrong move, but why would she pretend to be a good guy? She's _not_ the good guy. She'd killed her fair share of people. Some of them asked for it, and some of them just got in her way.

"Shut up," Sam and Dean snapped at the same time, then in sync turned back to each other. Adeliza raised her eyebrows. _Creepy._

"Sam, you've pulled a lot of shit, but this?" Bobby piped up, scowling, and threw a mistrustful glance over at her. She only rolled her eyes. Yeah, she didn't expect them to give her hugs and kisses.

Then it hit Adeliza. Dean had _died,_ and now he was alive.

"Wait, wait, wait! Put the demon shit aside for a second," she shook her head, slightly amazed at her own stupidity. How had she not noticed? This went passed weird and hit the impossible mark. There was the occasional runoff _demons,_ but a hunter? Especially Dean friggin' Winchester? That man would be put on lock-down. "How are you _not_ a demon? Humans don't escape hell. Especially not a valuable chunk of meat like yourself," she frowned.

Dean momentarily forgot she was a demon, furrowing his eyebrows. "Wait, demons can get outta the joint?" he clarified.

"I mean, if they're not a priority. I'm guessing you were on the deepest level of hell. What was it like when you got thrown back in your cell? Sorta like a red, fiery desert? Middle of the night, fire in your bones?"

She'd listed _everything_ that he experienced. But nobody else needed to know that he remembered. It wasn't any of their business, and damned if he'd shove his problems on them.

"Don't remember," Dean said in a gruff tone that suggested that he wouldn't say anything else. He stared at her intensely. She still owed him. Four now, he guessed, but four was a lot. "So you're on our team? One hundred percent, no cheap tricks?"

Very aware of the three sets of eyes staring at her, she chewed the inside of her lip. "I am so going to regret this later," she snarled under her breath, and she met his eyes.

"Yeah. I'm with you."


	4. Her Disciples

Dean was without a doubt ticked off. Every time he sneaked a glance at that red-lipstick wearing demon bitch he wanted nothing more than to chop her friggin' head off. But that's not why he was angry - he was angry because the way Sam acted around her, it was like she was his _friend._ Why couldn't Sam just understand that monsters were _monsters?_ It didn't matter whether or not she was helpful for a second or two.

They were chatting about something or another. Adeliza had that dumb little smirk on her face, and Sam looked annoyed the entire time. Dean clenched his fists, then walked over to them, putting on his own cocky grin. "Sorry to break up the slumber party, ladies, but we gotta get a move on," he turned to Adeliza, sneering. "And you're _not_ welcome in the car." she didn't look fazed in the slightest.

"Alright, I'll just zap up to the psychic's house - "

" _No,_ you're coming with us," Dean snapped, quick to change his mind. _Her_ arriving at Pamela's house _alone?_ While getting rid of the demon would be nice, Bobby had looked up her name awhile ago, and Adeliza was one big bad wolf. She was known for seducing men and women and murdering them. 'Hellfire', she was called, and to have one of the powerful guys on their team? It was annoying, but necessary.

Adeliza rolled her eyes. "What, are you bipolar or something?" she muttered, shaking her head. "I probably can't even get into this chick's house anyways."

"Then stand guard." Dean slid the knife into his pocket, making its presence obvious to her. "Tune into Hell's station. I dunno, just do _something."_

"Hell's station it is."

* * *

 _"Where's Dean Winchester?"_ a voice roared over all the others. Lilith. _"Alistair, how could you let him escape? He was_ your _responsibility!"_

 _"No one escapes hell."_ Alistair retorted, an almost mocking tone in his voice. Adeliza rolled her eyes. She'd love to see the day where Lilith finally got sick of that annoying bastard and killed him once and for all.

 _"One survivor saw it!"_ a younger demon piped up. She grinned. Oh, that demon should _not_ have gotten involved. Once the Dynamic Duo takes an interest in you, you'd better run for the hills. Even _half_ a screw up will get you on the rack for fifty years. _"I-It was me, Lilith... There was this bright light and a_ horrible _screeching noise. Hexa dissolved, and we all went to fight it - but nine other... lights... showed up."_

 _"And why are you alive, Reilly?"_

Reilly! _That_ was the name Adeliza was looking for... Poor girl didn't stand a chance against Lilith. Hell, even _Adeliza_ didn't stand a chance against Lilith. _"I fled."_ Reilly responded faithfully.

 _"...Alistair? Throw her on the rack."_

 _"W-What? No! Please, I - "_ her voice cut off suddenly, and Lilith let out a sigh.

 _"It's so hard to find good help these days. Wouldn't you agree, Adeliza?"_

She froze. "Way to work on your stealth," she muttered to herself, glancing out the windows of the impala. Adeliza was scanning for any hint of movement, or something that signified that she was being watched. Nothing.

 _"You always were my favorite..."_ a hint of remorse leaked into her tone. Adeliza grinned. Oh, she remembered the favoritism, alright. Those were the days when she was personally trained. Torture, bargaining, and her powers. Lilith molded her into everything she was today. Corrupting her soul, then demonizing her. And Adeliza took so much _pride_ in biting Lilith in the ass after all that woman had done _to_ her under the guise of doing it ' _for_ her'. _"I would be willing to give you a second chance."_ Still, Adeliza didn't respond. She heard Lilith heave a sigh. _"Fine. You've chosen your path, Adeliza. I'll find you, you know, and I will rip you apart piece by piece."_

 _"I have my own tricks up my sleeve,"_ Adeliza murmured. _"My own friends on my side. You forget, Lilly, you created me. If anyone's got a chance at burning you to the ground... it's me."_

She heard Lilith laugh, though Adeliza could detect a hint of nervousness. _"Are you declaring war, Lizzy? On all of hell?"_

With a tiny smirk, Adeliza cut off the psychic link. She'd let Lilith's imagination run wild.

* * *

"Hey! Hellbreath!" Dean waved a hand in front of Adeliza's face. She blinked a few times, the black in her eyes dissipating and acute awareness replacing it. "What's with the creepy daydream eyes?"

"Hell's Station," Adeliza said absentmindedly. A _war._ A bit dramatic, really, but she loved the sound of that. A war against her creator, and against everyone else. She met Dean's eyes finally, ready to relay only one piece of information. Her little conversation with Lilith wasn't any of his business. "It wasn't a demon that yanked your ass out. Everyone's about as bamboozled as you are."

"Then what _did?"_ Dean snapped.

Ignoring his tone, she continued. "They said it was these blobs of light. Couldn't see much before it burnt their eyes out."

Sam, guilt weighing down on his shoulders, slouched visibly. "Yeah, the same thing happened to Pam," he informed, shame lacing his words. "But we got a name. Does Castiel mean anything to you?"

Castiel? No. Nothing she'd ever heard of. It didn't sound like a demon name, so they might as well throw the demon possibility out the window.

"To me, no. But Reilly told Lilith there was this screeching. Apparently made a few beloved souls explode."

Adeliza was just glad that she'd chosen to betray hell. 'Cause if she were still a torturer, she'd be one of those sacks of ash lacing the red floor of perdition.

Dean shared a look with Sam. "The same screeching I heard in the gas station," he confirmed. Dean turned back to Adeliza, tossing her a bag of books. "Welcome to the Winchesters, Hellfire," he said, his tone bordering on cynical and sarcastic. With these Winchesters it was hard to tell.

Adeliza surprisingly said nothing, only looked at the cover of one in intrigue. Sam grinned at Dean scathingly. "See, Dean? Even the _demon_ doesn't complain about research."

"I like books," she offered only a little bit of insight. The lore just reminded her of going to Church on Sundays back in the days of humanity. Now she was pretty sure that even _looking_ at a church would result in a lightning bolt smiting her down. "But these won't do anything. I've read these before," she dismissed, and incinerated them before their eyes.

" _Dude!"_ Dean protested. "Ashes!"

Rolling her eyes, Adeliza snapped her fingers, immediately cleaning up the minimal flakes of paper that had fallen onto the seat. "My guess is something new. 'Cause no vampire has the power to even get _through_ the hell gates, let alone vaporize half of your guards."

Dean groaned. "Great. Just what we need; a new big bad that we have no idea how to kill."

* * *

First she'd started a war because of them, and now she was fetching groceries for them. Honestly, if Sam and Dean didn't start to pick up after themselves soon, she'd end up driving Dean's beloved impala off a cliff. Whether he'd go down along with it, she hadn't decided yet.

Walking into the cafe, she noticed a few things amiss.

For one, the pie was overpriced.

Fifteen bucks for an average sized apple pie? _Please._ In her time, fifteen dollars would buy you a couple seven course meals.

(Okay, that might have been a slight exaggeration.)

Another slight oddity was the lack of people. Some were sitting quietly in a corner, but that was about it for the customers.

 _Oh,_ and there was the _slight_ problem that this place was _loaded_ with demons.

"Adeliza!" Reilly greeted with a tone of faux happiness. Ugh, what was _she_ doing out of hell so soon? Two more stood in the place of a door. "It's _wonderful_ to see you again."

"You got off the rack early," Adeliza observed. Not even a scratch on her soul.

"Yeah," she agreed, a bitter undertone in her voice. She cast one demon a sidelong glance. "Raum," she nodded once. The demon - who Adeliza found _stunning,_ to offer some insight- snapped his fingers, and every other demon in the diner exploded.

"Wow, I don't feel threatened at all," Adeliza shot at Reilly, her eyes turning a dark onyx. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, like she was a predator and ready for a fight. Raum was far more powerful than she was, but she'd go down fighting before she'd join Lilith again. Before she'd be someone else's lap dog.

"None of that," Reilly shook her head, smiling slightly. "I'm not here for that. I'm here to... negotiate."

"You're young. Barely ten years old. A _fledgling_! What could you have that _I'd_ want?" Adeliza scoffed, keeping Raum in her sights at all times.

The other one finally spoke up. "Lilith wasn't kidding. She sees your betrayal as an act of war."

 _Yeah. I figured._ She knew from personalexperience that Lilith didn't make empty threats. "I _know._ And I'll cross that bridge when I get to it."

"I want to help you," Reilly blurted out, then looked a little embarrassed. _Poor girl._ She'd get eaten alive out there. And Adeliza was slightly tempted to just let nature take its course. "Look, I _hate_ Lilith. I know the war's barely started - only about two hours ago, actually, but you're going to need all the help you can get, and Raum and I can - "

"You're rambling, Reilly," Raum cut her off, looking mildly annoyed.

 _Raum._ Where had she heard that name? "And why are _you_ wanting so desperately to help me?" Adeliza addressed the stunning one. "Lilith would get you anything you want."

"I want a war." Raum shrugged. "A challenge. I'll help you conquer hell, and in return I want chaos."

"You could have that anyways."

"I really couldn't," he rolled his eyes. "Do you _know_ what I used to do? Who I am? You don't, because my reign was cut off before I could even _start._ I stole entire fortunes from kings. I _destroyed_ a man's will, and I could see everything. Past, present, and future. I controlled thirty legions of demons - "

"Yeah, yeah, hurry it up. I got pie to hand out," Adeliza snapped, looking at her watch. What was up with these two and droning on about tiny details? Raum was pretty, but also annoying. She preferred it when he was the quiet and mysterious type. "You can be on my side, but I have other things to deal with."

Reilly screwed up her face. Apparently she'd heard of her little predicament with the Winchesters. "You _trust_ them?"

"Of course I don't. They'd skin me alive then expect me to apologize," Adeliza scoffed.

Raum let a smirk tug at his lips. "Which is another reason why I'm here." If she hadn't seen this for herself, she would have called bullshit on anyone who'd even _suggest_ this happened.

His body began to contort and distort itself, transforming. Bones crunched and feathers sprouted through his skin, and before her very eyes, he shrunk down into a crow. Raum perched himself on her shoulder.

 _ **You're the talk of hell**_ _,_ _ **Adeliza.**_ His voice rang in her head. _**The rebel's cover girl. Give it a few**_ _ **months and they'll be tripping over themselves to join you. Besides, if the hunters**_ _ **kill you, Reilly and I'll be on the rack for eternity.**_

Seriously? A _bird?_ "You could've been something simpler, like a kitten or something. How the hell am I going to explain a fucking _crow?"_ she muttered and looked back up at Reilly. "I'll see you soon, when this war stuff starts to get serious. For now it just sounds like Lilith's a shit-talking middle schooler."

 _ **For now it does. Wait.**_

"Okay!" Reilly said happily. Lucifer, could this chick be anymore preppy?

 _ **She really couldn't. I had trouble even taking her with me,**_ Raum added.

"Is this voice in my head going to be a daily thing?" she asked irritably. "I'm _not_ letting you sit on my shoulder my entire life."

 _ **It's just to check up on you. And you can only hear it when I'm near you, in the bird form. Quit being a little bitch and accept our help.**_

Adeliza chose to ignore that, and instead she grabbed several pies. "Yeah, see you later, my _annoying_ disciples," she snapped.

Finally, she was able to get back to the Winchesters peacefully. Believe it or not, she actually _preferred_ their company over the cheerleader demon and the overprotective crow. Dean turned to face her with a glare.

"Took you long enough," he said gruffly, taking the pies from her.

"Demons." Adeliza shrugged. "Sam can sic 'em later."

Sam gave her a grave look. Oh, devil, he was going to use his blood lust for this again. It wasn't any of her business, but it was _disturbing._ But, like she'd told him, she wasn't a snitch. "Do me a favor, bring your lucky gem when you get there," Adeliza added pointedly. Dean cast her an odd look, but didn't go too far into it. He probably thought that it was just an inside reference shared between the two.

"Don't worry. I will." Sam assured.

"Please. I'm never worried about Winchesters."


	5. Call To Worship

_Angels._

The word on her tongue struck her with a sudden burst of emotion she hadn't felt in centuries. Fear shook Adeliza to her very core for a split second, but it disappeared as fast as it'd come. Instead, she stared at Reilly with a mixture of anger and disbelief. "An _angel."_ she repeated slowly.

They shouldn't even be _thinking_ about earth. The last time they'd come, there was mass destruction to _everything_. A plague had swept through the windows of Britain and taken most of her family in its wake. The thought of them returning? It struck fear into what was left of her little corrupted heart.

Her mother came to her one night before she disappeared. Everything in her human life was a blur, but that evening in particular was prominent in her mind. Haunting her memories. 

**London, England**  
 **October 3rd, 1837**  
 **170 years earlier**

She was on her deathbed.

Hideous, crusted spores covered her arms and neck, and Adeliza Hyem was minutes away from Heaven. Years later the epidemic would be called 'smallpox', but for now they referred to it as an act of God.

It wasn't as scary as she thought, dying, because she knew that her father would be waiting for her.

 _"My daughter,"_ She could hear his voice now, so full of pride and love, and - painfully - she reached up for his face, to stroke it, but her hand went right through it. It rendered her confused; was he a ghost? Why was he here? It _looked_ like him... His hair was years before it would begin graying, though he still looked aged. It felt like years since he died rather than months. _"You can let go, love, I'm waiting for you."_

She whimpered, tears leaking out of her eyes. "I-It hurts, papa, so much..."

His hand pushed the hair away from her face, smiling, his own eyes watering as well. _"I know it does. And that's okay, Adeliza. It always hurts in the end."_

She wanted to scream. To leap up out of bed and throw a tantrum, and to sob and tear out her hair. Couldn't he _see?_ She didn't _want_ it to end. She was only _seventeen,_ she was just _beginning!_ "No, papá, no es mi tiempo. ¡Aún soy joven!" she insisted.

Her father gave her a sad look, shaking his head, like he was fearing she would say that. She knew that something was off; Leo Hyem was English, not Spanish like her mother - he couldn't speak their language. _"I know... I had to try."_

Try what? Adeliza couldn't fathom _why_ her father would be trying to lead her towards death... her mother would've told her to stay alive, even if she was clinging on to only a ripping thread, and that was what she intended to do.

 _"I'll see you above, my beautiful girl."_

And, like that, he was gone. A sob tore through her throat, and she was left to suffer in her own despair. It was the end of the line, wasn't it? She'd come so far... at seventeen she'd married, birthed a son, and kept her family's powerful last name to linger the streets of London. And it was all destroyed.

Her husband was dying. Her son _was_ dead, and the name Hyem would be nothing more than a ghost of a whisper to haunt the streets of London. A family who couldn't withstand the elements, a family that had been damned by God. And frankly, she didn't want to stick around to see that happen.

So, she let go. The pain began to lessen. To turn her mind and limbs numb, and her breathing relaxed. Everything around her was fading, fading slowly yet quickly at the same time.

Then, footsteps approached, and she forced her eyes open. It was mother, but she looked... different somehow. Her kind, brown eyes were cold and distant, holding none of the love and concern that usually shone within them. Her illness was nowhere in sight. No spores, no scars, no bleeding. Like... like _magic._

"Hello, Adeliza." Mother's voice didn't stand like her own. It was deeper and monotonous; lacking her emotion, and it didn't fit her heavy Spanish accent.

"M-Mother?" Adeliza croaked.

Her mother shook her head. "I'm not your mother," she said and took a few steps closer so that she was at Adeliza's bedside. She put two fingers to her forehead, and slowly, all aches and burns and scars seemed to evaporate into thin air.

All weariness fled and strength was restored. Adeliza shot up in bed, turning to face her mother, amazed, but also saddened. What did she mean she wasn't her mother? They shared the same face, and they also sounded the same. "Where's my mother?" she asked slowly. Though the thought was ludicrous, Adeliza was beginning to believe it.

"Gone. She won't be returning."

Adeliza paused, scouring through her mind for something to say. "Who are you, then? _What_ are you?" she asked, bordering on either boldness or rudeness. She winced; her tone deserved a swift slap across the face.

Her mother - no, the woman. By now she could tell that her mother was nowhere in sight. They may share the same face, but Adeliza was a girl who took great pride in her Christian beliefs. She knew the difference. The woman looked like she was deciding whether or not she was going to say anything, then finally answered.

"I'm Alma. A Warrior of God." 

**PRESENT DAY**

"Er... Adeliza?" Reilly asked. Adeliza tore her gaze away from the lore book and turned to face the younger demon, a look of odd emotion on her face. "You've heard of angels? Really?" her eyes lit up a bit in childlike wonder.

"Long ago," Adeliza murmured, tearing out the page and stuffing it in her Winchesters sure as hell wouldn't look there. "It doesn't matter. All I need to find out now is _why_ they're here... Raum's keeping an eye on hell, correct?"

Dutifully, Reilly nodded. "I have a suggestion too... I know I've been a crossroads demon for only so long, but I read something somewhere, and I just thought it was kinda cool. Like, actually really cool. I don't know if it'll work or not, but Raum said that it would, and I actually agree with him a lot. It's going to sound really dumb - "

Adeliza shot her an annoyed look. "Get to the point, Reilly," she sighed, not in the mood for much banter. Chastised, Reilly's shoulders slumped down and she gave Adeliza an apologetic grin.

"Okay, so... contracts are a mega thing in hell. It seals _where_ the soul goes, so I was wondering... If souls mean power, then why not contract souls for _yourself?"_

Okay, this was just plain idiotic. Adeliza was pretty tempted to just let Lilith behead her and be done with it, because at the moment, Reilly was driving her _insane._ "And tell me, Reilly, where would we _put_ these souls?" she asked dryly. Even if they did contract souls, they would just go straight to hell, which meant more power for Lilith - you know, what they were trying to _avoid._

"I've thought about it, and this is what I found." Reilly pulled out yet _another_ book of lore. It took her a minute to flip through the pages, but she found a highlighted page, then handed the book over to Adeliza. She pointed to a specific part. "There's four dimensions in total. Well, main dimensions. Hell, Heaven, Purgatory, and... Limbo. It's empty - completely, and all we need to find out how to open it."

A wide smile flashed across Adeliza's face, and she pulled Reilly into a tight and unexpected hug. She lifted the small woman up and spun her around, planting a kiss onto her forehead. "Oh, Reilly, you _genius!_ " she shouted out, releasing Reilly and hugging the book to her chest. "I take back _everything_ I thought about you. You're smart, kid."

Reilly was beaming with pride at this point, but was still modest. Obviously her soul wasn't quite as corrupted as Adeliza's. "I mean, Raum gave me the idea. He was playing limbo in a bar and then it came to me..."

Sadly though, Adeliza's celebration was cut short. Her cell phone began to ring, and she answered it without thinking, beaming.

 _"Our motel just got friggin' attacked, and we're trying to summon this thing! Where the hell are you?"_ Dean's voice snapped through the phone, bringing her back to reality.

"Demon business. Text the the address, jackass, I'm in the middle of of something," Adeliza retorted, then clamped her phone shut before Dean could say anything more. At the moment, nothing could bring her mood down; not even Dean Winchester and his petty problems which, under normal circumstances, she would make seem like mere fleas next to what trouble she could cause for them.

Reilly pulled a face at the voice of the Winchester, and said, hopefully, "I could always kill them, y'know."

"That's the thing about Winchesters," Adeliza began wisely, her tone suggesting that Reilly had better listen now and listen closely. "They just can't seem to stay dead."

She looked confused, but Reilly nodded, pretending to understand. If only she knew. "Take a break, Reilly, you've done well. When we're ready, we can start looking into this limbo doorway."

Suddenly bubbling with glee once more, Reilly hurriedly agreed, then disappeared in the blink of an eye. Adeliza decided that she'd better hide the book. Or, at least, the seven pages regarding the portals. After tearing them out, she zapped over to an underground hideout - a bomb shelter her descendants had dug out during World War II - and examined it.

Untouched for decades, everything was coated with a thick layer of dust. That could be easily fixed, though. With a snap of her fingers, the place was spotless.

Adeliza headed over to a filing cabinet and placed the pages under the letter 'R'. She was beyond impressed with Reilly at the moment. Maybe that kid wasn't so bad after all... but it was early yet, and so far they hadn't had much conflict to deal with. That could always change quickly.

A loud, obnoxious beep sounded from her phone once more.

 **Where r u? Srsly hellfire, i will kill u if u don't get ur ass over here. The thingy is gonna appear any second.**

Nice grammar, she thought dryly, but finally appeared by Dean's side.

"You called," she bowed deeply, scowling.

Dean turned to her with a pinched expression. "I've been calling you for like an hour! Where the hell have you been?!"

Evasively, she answered, "Demon business, like I said. And I know what this is, and it's not dangerous. Well, not for you. Probably not for you." Adeliza added those last two parts as an afterthought. In all fairness, she didn't know what to expect from angels. All she'd experienced was one healing her then disappearing in her mother's body, and later on down the road, the one in her mother's body tried to kill her once Adeliza had turned into a demon.

"What do you mean - " Bobby began, though a sudden, eerie howl of wind cut him off.

As Adeliza's eyes trailed over the symbols painted across the wall and the floor, she could only be grateful that they'd heeded her warning when she'd insisted that this was no demon. Unfortunately though, there were no wards there that she _didn't_ recognize, which meant that angels could breeze through without a second glance.

She thought about telling Dean and Bobby about the angels, but then a small smirk pulled at her lips.

Nah.

Why spoil the surprise? It's not like they were going to _die._

The wind picked up, and Dean had grabbed a shotgun, while Adeliza made no move to even grab a weapon. She had her demon juice, and that should be enough to at least let her make a proper escape.

Just as suspected, the doors swung open violently, leaving an echo to cross over the barn. There was a man - who, as a side note, Adeliza thought was a rather nice piece of eye candy - and he was clad in a business suit, blue tie, and a freakishly long coat.

His steely gaze was set ahead, and it reminded Adeliza of how her mother looked before she disappeared. It was sort of nostalgic, really, but she didn't mind too much anymore. She had centuries and a whole lot of corrupting done to help her bypass _that_ incident.

Dean and Bobby unleashed a flurry of shotgun blasts upon him, but - as she'd expected - it had no effect. Comically, she examined her nails, leaning against the table casually as the two men thought they were fighting for their very lives. _Please._ If anyone was in any trouble of not getting out alive, it'd be _her._

"Who are you?" Dean spoke finally, tossing his gun to the side. She noticed a flash of silver in his hand (the demon blade, presumably) and his knuckles turned white from clutching it.

In a low, monotonous voice, he answered, "I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition."

Wow... she'd come from the victorian ages, and even then nobody seemed to talk as stiffly as this guy. Whatever happened to giving a straight answer? If someone asked her what she was, she wasn't going to say, _Oh, yeah, I'm the one whose soul was twisted._ She'd say, _I'm a demon._ Was that _really_ so hard?

 _ **And there's the angel-demon rivalry I've been waiting for.**_

Annoyed, Adeliza glanced over at the now open barn doors and spotted a crow perched upon the fence post, watching everything unfold with observing eyes. She chose to ignore that and instead focus on what was happening now.

Bobby swung at Castiel with what was probably as much force as he could muster, and even then he had just swung the hunter around like a rag doll, then knocked him out with a mere tap to the forehead.

The moment that she'd been waiting for _finally_ arrived. The angel noticed the demon, and the demon was ready for a fight.

"Demon," Castiel snarled, a silver blade shooting out of his sleeve. He walked forwards and lunged, but Adeliza only sidestepped him, smirking.

"Not today, sweets," she drawled, a wide smirk spreading across her face. Oh, how she _missed_ a good ol' brawl. Every sense was on red-alert. Each micromovement coming from the angel didn't go unnoticed, and everything looked like it was moving in slow motion. Finally she'd be able to show Dean what she was capable of. That she could kill him in milliseconds before he could even try.

Fights were her _favorite._ Dean, gobsmacked, couldn't do much but watch as the two circled each other, moments away from a duel. Who did he _want_ to win? He didn't care much for Adeliza, and the other dude seemed hellbent on killing her because she was a demon... Well, maybe he should just sit this one out. See who comes out on top before picking sides.

"I am a warrior of God, _scum_ ," Castiel spat, blue eyes getting a brighter tint to them - almost cyan. "You're a demon with lowly tricks."

He zapped over to her this time, swiping the blade at her, and Adeliza quickly ducked just in time, gripping his arm and using her strength to flip him over. He landed on both feet, though, and this time he managed to graze her cheek with the blade.

It hurt like nothing had hurt before. A thousand years of hell, all shoved into one tiny wound. Adeliza repressed the urge to scream out in sheer agony, and instead opted to use her own 'lowly tricks'. Extending an arm out towards him, Castiel froze up, shaking, but unable to move.

"I've been _itching_ to kick ass lately," Adeliza taunted, her eyes turning to an ominous black. Castiel broke free - barely - but was obviously weakened, as he dropped to his knees. He furrowed his eyebrows, like he was ponderingexactly _how_ Adeliza was able to hurt him like she could. She walked closer, snatching the blade out of his hand.

His strength rapidly returned, and he held up a hand to shield himself. When no slash came, he lowered his hands, confusion eminent in his eyes. Adeliza simply incinerated the blade, making a point of blowing the ashes over to him. Come on _,_ did this guy really think she was just going to _murder_ him in cold blood? She was a demon, not a savage.

"I'm not going to kill you," Adeliza said, rolling her eyes. Though she supposed he couldn't really see it, considering the whites of her eyes were still a pitch black. "I have enough issues without an army of angels tailing my ass for revenge."

Confusion. Again. It was honestly quite annoying at this point. "How do you know about angels?" he growled out lowly, standing up and stepping closer. Dean, at this point, was watching everything with a sort of helplessness, like he knew it was a bad idea to get between an angel and a demon fighting. _Damsel,_ Adeliza thought bitingly.

"The plague of 1837," Adeliza said. Castiel nodded, aware of that particular event. But that didn't explain how she knew about angels. She spoke quieter this time, so Dean couldn't hear her; she didn't need any hunters using her previous life against her. "My mother was a vessel, and the angel who possessed her healed my ass. I think I turned out alright, didn't I?" she mused.

Not getting the joke, the angel scoffed, disgust clear on his features. Apparently sarcasm was dead these days. "You're a demon. You have ended up as everything that's _not_ alright."

A sudden wave of rage built up in the pit of her stomach, and Adeliza snarled under her breath. "Well, that's your fault, isn't it?" she snapped. "So forgive me if I'm not going to respond to your call to worship!"

That caught the angel off guard. That was good for her, at least, because it gave her a chance to disappear. Castiel was utterly and completely puzzled. What did she mean, it was all their fault?

Well... it didn't matter. Castiel turned back to the hunter, who was checking Bobby Singer's pulse, and Castiel watched as Dean asked his next question. The question he'd been anticipating.

"What the _hell_ are you?"

"I'm an angel of the lord."


	6. The Double Cross

**word count: 1600**

"Let's be realistic for a second," Bobby cut across the Winchesters' argument regarding the angel. He had a far more prominent issue in his mind; one that they'd have to figure out soon before it stabbed them in the back. "and quit fussin' about the guy who _saved_ you. Let's discuss what the hell we're gonna do with the _demon._ "

"Bobby, I told you - " Sam began.

"You ain't thinking straight," Bobby snapped at him. "Dean was dead so you took whatever help you could get, and it was a dumb idea. A few months of good behavior don't mean anything to a demon who's centuries old."

Sam gritted his teeth together and resisted the urge to argue with Bobby. He _knew_ it was a stretch and that it could backfire, but this was a chance they needed to take. If they had been there, in his shoes, they would understand. He couldn't remember a time where he'd felt so _strong._ Ruby helped him, she really did, and so did Adeliza. Was it really fair to just shove him to the side because he made a rash decision? 'Cause he didn't see _Bobby_ doing anything to save Dean. At the moment, he was beginning to feel like he could depend on those two demons more than he could his own family.

It felt odd to him. The past three months it had been just him, Ruby, and Adeliza. Ruby would mentor him in private about his abilities brought on by demon blood, and Adeliza would always seem to predict Lilith's movements. Apart from that, Sam was almost positive that so long as they had a common enemy, no one was in danger. It wasn't like they killed anyone.

(Well, Ruby hadn't killed anyone. He wasn't too sure what Adeliza did in her spare time - but he _did_ know that around the time of her disappearing, there'd be a mysterious murder case on his agenda. It'd be better to not mention that particular fact to Dean, though.)

"Well we can't just kill her," Sam insisted, shooting the men glares.

"The hell we can't!" Dean scoffed. He pulled out their special demon knife and tapped the blade, shooting Sam a sarcastic grin. "Remember, Sammy? We have a _demon_ knife."

"No, I mean we _can't._ 'Cause she owes you, remember?" Dean faltered slightly. Okay, he forgot that small tidbit of information... "Four favors. After the four favors, fine, you can kill her. Whatever. But are you really gonna waste an overpowered gun with four bullets?"

Begrudgingly, Dean agreed. He didn't like it, and he wasn't going to welcome Adeliza with open arms, but he might as well use up his favors before they hunt her down.

"Okay, okay. _Fine._ We get four shots and she's dead. But the moment after the deal's over with, I'm killing her."

 **MEANWHILE**

"Can we just shut the hell up about the angel for one second?" Adeliza groaned, and strode over to the couch in her little bomb shelter. The house above was still buzzing with her perfectly alive descendants, but the shelter seemed to be long forgotten. Their loss, her gain. "I spared Castiel. They have no reason to be after _me_ specifically."

"Didn't you say one angel sought you before?" Raum asked, giving her that annoying smirk of his. "It wouldn't be too far of a stretch if they looked for you _again."_

Oh, he just _had_ to go there _._ "Alma and I had a history. Pardon my french, but Castiel seems a few sprinkles short of a doughnut." Adeliza ignored Raum's low snort of laughter at her analogy. She was pretty sure that he was bipolar; he either took things too seriously or not at all.

She shoved those thoughts to the back of her mind for a moment to focus on the problem at hand.

Castiel.

For an angel, she wasn't that impressed. Adeliza would hardly call herself mediocre, but she certainly wasn't the strongest demon around. Stronger than Ruby? Definitely. Stronger than Raum? Now that she knew him better, a little bit. Stronger than _Lilith?_ The very _thought_ was laughable. But somehow she'd managed to overpower the so called 'warrior of God' without breaking a sweat.

"Fine." Raum shrugged it off and opened the file regarding Limbo. "So this thing is fucking useless, kinda like Reilly. It doesn't say anything about what we need to _open_ the dimension."

Adeliza didn't bother hiding her amusement at the remark about Reilly; it was partly true. She was annoying, naive, and only had a few shining moments of wisdom. Adeliza figured she'd just dump the demon when they get into a tight spot, or kill her herself.

"I'm standing right here," Reilly said, shooting both her superiors a glare. "And I _know_ that there's no list of supplies, but I have a list of people who might know a thing or two about Limbo."

"Might?" Adeliza asked dryly. "Why do I get the feeling we're grasping at straws?"

"Probably because we are," Raum supplied. _Yeah, thanks for the input,_ she thought bitingly, though she supposed that Raum was more tolerable company than Reilly.

"Shut _up,_ Raum!" Reilly snarled at him. She was getting angry; Adeliza could sense the spurts of demonic intent just itching to come out in the form of pain and malice. "What have _you_ done to win this thing? I'm the one who found our best chance. You haven't done anything but make wisecracks and flap your little wings."

Adeliza half expected Raum to snap Reilly's neck right then and there. Instead, he burst into laughter; it rang throughout the shelter and successfully unnerved Reilly. (And Adeliza too, but she would never admit it.)

"Nice job at finding a fairytale about a magic door. I've killed eleven demons heading after Commander Sweets over there this week _alone._ They didn't even make it within five _miles_ of her. So thanks for the intel, but why don't you go grocery shopping and get us something we can use?"

Adeliza was looking between the two, smirking. This felt like the part where she'd get a bucket of popcorn and watch the soap opera Reilly had made this into, but she opted to pick a side. As Reilly raised her palm towards Raum, Adeliza merely pointed a finger at her, and the demon froze.

"W-What are you doing?" Reilly gasped. "I'm on your side!"

Adeliza simply snatched the list of names out of her hand and stepped back, shoulder to shoulder with Raum. "No, you're a bargain. You're what I hand over to Lilith - a betrayal to all of hell, by the way - in exchange for a temporary treaty to get her off my ass."

Reilly looked positively _rabid._ Her eyes turned a dark jade and she shook violently, growling and screaming obscenities at Adeliza. Before she could start foaming from the mouth, Adeliza focused on her, feeling a slight throbbing in her skull; black smoke poured from the vessel's body and leaked through the vent, down into Hell.

Raum stared at her in momentary shock, then he grinned widely, slinging an arm around Adeliza's shoulders. "Aw, I knew you liked me more," he cooed in her ear. Adeliza elbowed him in the side, an oddly natural reaction, and stepped away from him, folding her arms over her chest. The intended grumpiness was lost on him though because she was elated to have gotten rid of Reilly.

"It's 'cause you're prettier," Adeliza said.

"Obviously," he nodded. "But how do we know Lilith is gonna take this as a treaty?"

She gave him a knowing smile, but it seemed bitter somehow. "Believe me, she'll know. Any other questions? I'm in serious need of a hook-up after all that _effort,"_ she whined slightly. Raum knew perfectly well that that was no more than a slight headache for her. Still, he decided to humor her.

"You poor thing," he teased. "And before you can go slutting it up, I think we need to talk about the Winchesters."

Her head snapped up at this; she actually hadn't been thinking about that issue. Would Sam kill her? Not while Dean was around, he wouldn't. It would be his downfall, someday. The man had to learn that demons weren't friends, and it was a lesson that Adeliza was keen on giving to him _personally._

"Ugh, _fine,"_ Adeliza pouted slightly. "I have to be their bitch a total of four more times, then I'm free."

"But you do realize that you can just... _not_ give them favors?"

No, she couldn't just 'not' give them the favors owed. She used to be a crossroads demon; it was all but branded into her soul that no deal went undealt. Each task would pick at her mind, scratching and tearing at it until she finally made an effort to complete it. It wasn't just annoying, it was _horrific._ One time Adeliza tried to resist it, and it nearly drove her to insanity. But, of course, she couldn't tell Raum this little detail about her. Weaknesses were weaknesses. Even though he was an ally, she could take no risks.

"I'm a classy person, you dishonest little bitch," Adeliza shot at him. Raum took it in stride, rolling his eyes.

"Crossroads demons," he muttered under his breath, so quiet that she almost didn't hear it. "Okay. Okay, so when the favors are over, _then_ what?"

She didn't even hesitate, and it reminded Raum of just how much she deserved to be called the Hellfire.

"Then we slaughter them, of course."

 **A/N: Yeah, this one's short. I try to make them about 2,000 words long, but there was no way to get this point in the story across without adding too many unnecessary details. And at the end of the chapter, there was no way to transition it smoothly to another scene.**

 **Thanks for the faves and follows! :) and especially the reviews; they're always so sweet and your theories are interesting to look at (and sometimes they may change my mind about what's going to happen next..)**


	7. Inspector Dimension

"Let me guess," Adeliza said, sliding into the passenger seat of the Impala. Sam instinctively reached for his knife, but he relaxed when he noticed it was just her. "You and Ruby are up to your psychic shenanigans again?"

At the uncomfortable, almost guilty look the two shared, Adeliza gasped and rested a hand over her chest. " _Scandalous!_ And you weren't thinking of inviting me?" she pretended to pout.

Sam pursed his lips slightly, like he was trying to suppress a laugh. He knew that he shouldn't try to be her friend, but they were at least allies. And as an ally, he could firmly say that Adeliza was a fucking _riot._ Seriously. If he didn't have self control, she would've sent him into near hysterics every single time she opened her mouth in the past few months.

"Come on guys, I'll third wheel it." Sam raised an eyebrow at her. "What? The third wheel offers balance and stability. Ooh, that's actually good advice. I'm writing that down.

And, true to her word, Adeliza pulled out a notebook and a red pen and began to scribble down her 'quote'. As she did this, Sam said, "You have less balance and stability in you than the devil himself would."

"Well, that theory could easily be tested unless we get this show on the road," Ruby said, shooting Sam an intense look. He quickly sobered himself, his brow furrowing in exaggerated concentration. Right. No playing with fire.

Adeliza seemed to put two and two together, and her jaw dropped. "Wait, _Lucifer?_ As in, the guy locked in hell's basement? The one who we must not, under any circumstances, poke with a stick?"

She remembered, when she was Lilith's apprentice, that one of her rules were to never, ever, ever, _ever_ approach The Cage. She was young and naive then; the last person she'd suspected to be behind those bars would be the devil himself. So, the curious and rebellious woman had sneaked past the guards and walked right up to it. There, her eyes fell upon the most beautiful and terrifying celestial being she'd ever had the fortune to hold her gaze with.

 _"Well, look at the little rebel," Lucifer mused, casting Adeliza a breathtaking smile. "Where's your master? They should really keep you demons under a tighter lock."_

The rest of that memory, Adeliza decided, she would reopen later. For now she pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind, put a wall up around them, and focused on the task at hand. Her experiences and histories and debts and _everything_ sometimes drove her mad. Inside her head was a giant web of secrets; each one led to another, and the more complex the patterns, the more occult, the more lethal, they seemed.

"According to Sam here, the angels want the Winchesters to stop the apocalypse," Ruby's slick voice cut through her ocean of thoughts like Moses did the Red Sea. "And by default, that means us too."

Adeliza truthfully wouldn't mind if she were on Team Apocalypse. But, because she was chained to the Winchesters, that was out of the question. "So, what's our disadvantages?" she asked, going into militant-mode.

"One: the angels don't care if we're being helpful, and if they catch us, we're as good as dead. Two: Sam _needs_ to train if we have a chance at stopping the apocalypse, and Dean's... not so happy about it."

 _Suck-up._ "So what you're saying is that Winchester's being a controlling, self-righteous asshole as always?" Adeliza jeered. A muscle in Sam's jaw twitched, but he didn't object. _And the plot thickens... Sam agrees with me._ "Well, anyways, you can count me _out_ of the demon blood thing."

Sam cast her a bewildered glance. What, was drinking demon blood suddenly above her morals now? "Wait, why?"

"Because it's creepy. And idiotic. And none of my business. I'm here to stop Lilith, not screw up your life force." Adeliza glanced down at her watch and breathed out a small sigh. She was late to check in, which meant -

A crow swooped in through the window of the impala and perched itself on Adeliza's shoulder. She closed her eyes, exhaling through her nostrils, then faced the astonished looks Ruby and Sam were shooting her. "I have a pet now," she deadpanned.

Ruby snorted quietly. "What's its name?"

"Babycakes."

 _ **Really? I'm an ancient transforming demon and you name me babycakes?**_

Adeliza ignored him. She figured that if she pretended he didn't exist, he'd go away on his own.

Suddenly, Raum let out an eardrum shattering, god-awful screech. It startled all three of the Impala's occupants and sent Adeliza's head jerking sideways into the window.

"Son of a bitch! Sam, get your gun out; I'm getting some god-damn target practice!"

 _ **That's what happens when you don't check in.**_

She glowered at him, feeling oceans of annoyance pooling up in the pit of her stomach. It was about to be unleashed through sheer rage which she'd been withholding the _last_ few times this happened. Yes, Raum indeed did this each and every time Adeliza was late to check in, and she was three seconds from stepping on him.

"You've got a lot of pent up bird hatred..." Ruby said, looking between Adeliza and Raum cautiously.

She realized that she was probably coming across too intense for a crow's screech, and quickly changed the subject. "I need to go. This is what Babycakes does when he's... hungry. Yeah, when he's hungry." She nodded fiercely. Before they could further question it, she disappeared on the spot, reappearing in the back of a Denny's.

Adeliza stared at Raum as he turned back into a human. Wordlessly, she handed the man some clothes, because obviously clothes couldn't transform with him. A plain white T-Shirt, jeans, and his signature black trench coat.

"They're a bit wrinkled," Raum commented. She glared at him, and he only flicked up his collar, smirking. "Would it kill you to iron a bit?"

"I bet it'd kill _you,"_ she said. "D'You have a lead on Limbo yet, or is this a waste of our time?"

"Actually, one Mr. Frederick Leggar has a second cousin who dedicated her entire life to dimensions. Heaven, Hell, pocket dimensions, you name it."

Her heart skipped a beat. "Why do I feel like this is too much of an easy break."

Raum furrowed his eyebrows slightly, the smirk falling from his features. She already knew what that meant. "Because it is. Frederick hasn't spoken to his second cousin in years. The last time he heard from her, she lived near Warwick, North Dakota. We're looking for Zella Yanzova."

 _Zella Yanzova._ Okay, Adeliza could already tell that this woman was legit. Anyone with the name _Zella Yanzova_ would have enough crazy inside them to spend their life researching worlds. But this time she wanted to be a part of the search for Limbo; she wasn't going to spend her life on the sidelines. She needed a little action, and apparently poking Angels would get her smitten.

"So when are we making this trip to Warwick?"

 **A/N: I'm thinking in the next few chapters the demons are going to be following the SPN script. Since this story's focused on Adeliza, she's not going to be around for everything. Like, why would Sam and Dean call her for cases and stuff unless it was her area of expertise, you know what I mean?**

 **Please bear with Adeliza and I until we find the appropriate time for more Adeliza!Winchester moments. (That is not a ship name, by the way)**


	8. Angelic Revelations

The tension between the otherwise borderline obsessive brothers was palpable as Adeliza entered the room. Not an hour ago she'd been called by Dean; it was something about a powerful witch, but honestly she suspected that he wanted something. Information, maybe. Or just a distraction. Either way, she was fine with it. She planned to go to Warwick in a week or so, because any sudden movement would alert Lilith to their presence.

They were somewhat in hiding. Unless spotted, Lilith would leave them alone. They had to take this trip the old fashioned style. The problem being, neither Adeliza nor Raum knew how to drive; they were born _centuries_ ago. It wasn't really on their to-do list. They weren't allowed to use their demon powers on the road to Warwick unless they were provoked.

"Ooh, candy," Adeliza gasped, taking a Heath bar from a bowl.

"You really _are_ a demon, aren't you?" Dean asked. He pulled a face at her choice in candy and sat next to Sam on the couch.

"Don't criticize my taste in candy while you're munching down on a fucking _Butterfinger,"_ she gagged. Dean glowered at her; apparently this was the worst thing she could've ever done to him. No torture, no murder, just insulting a candy bar. He was funny - funny enough that she might make his death quick. "Ooh, goldthread," Adeliza said, flipping the herb over in her hands. "I used to have some of these growing in my room."

At the surprised looks the men shot her, she shrugged. "What? A girl's not allowed to like plants?"

Sam hadn't said a word yet, but his jaw was clenched. Perhaps he hadn't wanted her to show up. These Winchesters were just a little puzzle waiting to be solved, and Adeliza wanted to crack the code before she killed them. "The vics," he interrupted their little heart-to-heart, "don't have to be just vics. They could be part of a spell."

"What?" Dean asked through a mouthful of Butterfingers. Adeliza put her feet up on the desk and reclined back in her chair, a bowl of Heath bars in her lap.

"Three blood sacrifices over three days, the last before Midnight on the final day of the final harvest." Sam read off, standing up and walking over to Dean. He handed the book over to him, and Adeliza simply looked on from a few feet away. "Look, Celtic calendar: the final day of the final harvest is October 31st."

"And, uh, what exactly are the blood sacrifices for?"

"If I'm right, this witch is summoning a demon. And not just any demon. Samhain."

Adeliza choked on her chocolate bar and started coughing, almost falling back in her chair. She'd been almost _relaxed_ for a split second, and then he says _that_ guy's name? Samhain wasn't just the epitome of evil, he was also batshit crazy.

"What am I missing? Am I supposed to be impressed?" Dean asked, looking in between Sam and Adeliza. "What's so bad about Samhain?"

"Dean. Samhain is the damn _origin_ of Halloween. The Celts believed that October 31st was the one night of the year when the veil was thinnest between the living and the dead, and it was Samhain's night. I mean, masks were put on to hide from him, sweets left on doorsteps to appease him, faces carved into pumpkins to worship him. He was exorcised centuries ago," Sam explained. Adeliza looked on at the ink drawings of Samhain, almost smirking at how he was depicted as a sort of goat man, like a Jersey Devil. Really, he was quite dashing. Insane, psychotic, and blank in the head, but dashing.

"Samhain at full power is stronger than Lilith herself," Adeliza said, earning the Winchesters' attention. "But if he rises, which you should probably _avoid,_ he'll still be powered up enough to kill you as easily as I could."

"Sure seems like a bunch of death and destruction for one demon," Dean commented.

"That's 'cause he likes company. Once he's raised, Samhain can do some raising of his own." Zombies. More demons. Probably a hoard of witches just groveling to be on his side.

"So we're talking ghosts?" Dean asked. Sam nodded, and he went on. "Zombies? Leprechauns?"

"Dean." Sam gritted out, shooting him one of his famous bitchfaces. Adeliza had to admire that about the man; he could communicate about forty levels of disgust using the upper half of his face alone.

"What? Those guys are scary. Small hands."

"They're actually gnomes," Adeliza added. Dean looked suddenly very interested in the revelation that Leprechauns were real, but once he went to question it further, Sam cut across both of them. Right. They should probably get back on track.

"Look, it just _starts_ with ghosts and ghouls," Sam emphasized, "this sucker keeps on going, by night's end we are talking every awful thing we've ever seen, everything we fight all in one place."

"So what you're saying is that this is gonna be a slaughterhouse." Dean frowned.

"Yeah... I think this is going to count as one of my favors," Adeliza said, and no one bothered arguing with her.

 _ **:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:**_

Grocery shopping. Again. This time in her own free will. Someone had to buy the _decent_ candy, which meant no butterfingers and mostly Three Musketeers and Heath bars. With armfuls of candy in her hands, a text sounded. She struggled a bit to take out her phone, but finally opened the message.

 **Princess Eyes: hey hellbreath were checking out a school. yes a school. bring candy or i will kill u.**

Rolling her eyes, Adeliza typed a response.

 **#1 DBFF: Fine. Also, learn how to spell; it's sort of embarrassing, love.**

 **Princess Eyes: stfu.**

Adeliza smirked before ducking behind an aisle of various breads. Making sure nobody was looking, she disappeared on the spot without paying, honing in on Dean's location. She hadn't really been in a modern school before, because the occasion never called for it. She expected a one-roomed schoolhouse, not a giant and mansion-sized facility.

"DBFF?" Dean questioned as they approached an art room. "Last time I checked, your name was set as 'Hellbreath'."

"Last time I checked, you're a terrible observer," she quipped.

The art room was unsettling to say the least. Hideous masks adorned the walls, hung from the ceiling, but one in particular sent both adults frozen in their tracks.

It was obviously hand-crafted by an adolescent, though it still gave Adeliza a sharp pang in her stomach, an urge to run. Distorted laughter rushed into her mind, images blinding her from the real world, and she couldn't move. Her soul writhing around inside her, hurting until she _enjoyed_ the pain - _strived_ for it - _needed_ it. For a brief second, she felt a flicker of humanity, and it scared her.

"Bring back memories?"

Sam's voice vaguely entered her thoughts, but he vanished; she was seeing through human eyes, seeing the first time she'd witnessed the true face of a demon. It'd only lasted about ten seconds or so, but by the time she looked away, one of the hunters had most definitely noticed. Adeliza couldn't put her finger on it. Why were these feelings surfacing after so many years? Why _now_ of all times?

 _Weakness,_ she reminded herself. And so she severed all traces of humanity once more. Temporary, maybe, but temporary relief was better than none at all. That memory leaked from the vault in her mind. She would not let it happen again.

"You remember being a teenager?" Sam asked his brother, smirking over at the classroom. "All that angst."

"Oh." Dean blinked, the question catching him off guard.

"What'd you think I meant?" Sam chuckled a little.

Grimacing slightly, Dean only shrugged. "Nothing."

But Adeliza was currently focused on the kid holding a giant bong. The first thought that entered her mind was _why?_ and the second was _yes, please._

"You gentlemen wanted to talk to me?" a voice from down the hall asked, and a man entered through the doorway, a box in his hands. He raised his eyebrows upon seeing Adeliza. "And lady, of course. You're with them?"

"Yeah."

Doubtfully, he looked down at her outfit. If this was a modern highschool, she probably wasn't following the dress code. Denim fabric covered her breasts only, basically a bra, and the matching shorts seemed more like boxers than anything. With bags of candy in her hands and the tattoos on her shoulders, it didn't exactly make her look like any less of your typical FBI-screwing-scoundrel. Vaguely she noticed the teenage kid ogling her, and she internally gagged. She was a demon, not a pedophile.

Adeliza leaned in, glancing over at the kid. "Undercover," she mouthed.

Sam cleared his throat. "I'm Agent Lee, and this is Agent Geddy. If you don't mind, we have a few questions about the student that used to attend here. Tracy Davis?"

"Oh, Tracy! Bright kid, loads of talent. It's a shame she got suspended." Don frowned.

"You two had a violent altercation," Dean stated.

"Yeah," Don chuckled a little. Whilst the boys looked suspicious, Adeliza wrote it off as typical human behavior: being a douche. "She exploded. If Principal Murrow hadn't walked by when he did, Tracy would've clawed my eyes out."

"Why?"

"You know, I was only trying to rap with her about her work. It had gotten inappropriate and disturbing."

Dean's next words explained exactly what was on Adeliza's mind: "More disturbing than, uh, those guys?" he gestured to the rack of evil and creepy masks (which she was tempted to burn after she left).

Don smiled a bit, though it didn't reach his eyes. "She would cover page after page with these bizarre cryptic symbols. And then there were these drawings - detailed images of killings, gory, primitive. She would depict herself in the middle of them, participating."

"She sounds like a real artist." Adeliza grinned. "Mind pointing where her folder is?"

Still wary, he gestured over to a filing cabinet. As Adeliza leafed through them for Tracy Davis's pictures, she bit back a grin. It was always fun to put civilians on end. Especially since she hadn't gotten to kill someone in awhile. She was beginning to hope for another altercation with Castiel; at least then she'd get some _real_ action.

She returned over to the Winchesters, who were waiting by the door. Adeliza handed the file over to Sam and took the bag of Heath bars from Dean. "You got the symbol?" she asked through a mouthful.

Sam grimaced and Dean rolled his eyes. "Yeah." Sam seemed to be looking anywhere but her face. "Now we just need to figure out where she lives. I think we've got our witch."

:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:

The Impala pulled into the parking lot of the motel, but Adeliza had already been waiting there, a fourth of the candy already gone. A kid in an astronaut suit stood in front of her, holding out a pumpkin bucket expectantly. Dean arrived at the scene and soon the kid's attention was focused on both of them.

"Trick or treat," the boy said to them.

"This is a motel," Dean pointed out.

"So?" his eyes glanced over at Adeliza's bag, then he wrinkled his nose. Seriously, did _nobody else_ like Heath bars?

"So we don't have any candy. Ask the demon."

The words slipped from his mouth before he processed what he was saying. Before the kid could get too confused, Sam swooped in. "Actually we have a ton back in the - "

"We did but it's gone," Dean snapped, shooting Sam a harsh glare. He turned back to the kid with a fake smile. "Sorry, kid, we can't help you."

"I want candy," the astronaut repeated.

"Well I think you've had enough."

The boy gave him a glare worthy of Bobby Singer himself. Dean, looking offended and slightly unnerved, kept a close eye on him as he walked passed. Adeliza snorted quietly. "Fat jokes?" she asked; Sam had already gone up ahead to the hotel. "Really? That's low."

"You were about to tear into the kid anyways," Dean retorted, but the two followed Sam closely behind. Sam had just opened the door when he drew his gun, pointed it at a man, and began to shout obscenities.

"Who are you?!" he yelled.

"Sam, Sam, wait!" Dean pushed his brother's gun down. "It's Castiel..." he trailed off and looked at Adeliza. "The angel."

She'd been frozen right next to him, the hairs on the back of her neck sticking up. She took back what she said before. She didn't want another altercation with Castiel. She really, _really_ didn't. Not when there was _another_ angel in the room - she wouldn't stand a chance.

"Hello, Sam," Castiel greeted.

"Oh my god," Sam gasped, suddenly struck with awe being in the mere presence of an angel. Adeliza was slightly offended; he'd been in the presence of an equally as awesome demon for, what, three months now? Four? Apparently a little appreciation was dead these days. "Er, uh, I didn't mean to - sorry. It's an honor. Really, I've heard a lot about you."

 _Honor my ass,_ Adeliza scoffed. _I beat that pushover in a fight weeks ago._

Castiel stared at the hand Sam'd offered to shake for a few seconds, then with a gesture from Dean, he accepted. "And I, you. Sam Winchester: the boy with the demon blood. Glad to hear you've ceased your extracurricular activities. Let's keep it that way."

Unfortunately, the ignoring of the elephant in the room (or in this case the demon in the room) couldn't be left unmentioned for long. Castiel focused his attention on Adeliza now, all kindness evaporating from his features, and instead cold hatred replacing it.

"Would it be impolite to get the hell out of here?" Adeliza almost whined to Dean.

Castiel didn't give her the chance. He strode forwards, wrapping his hands around her throat and slamming her head against the wall.

Dean had to make a choice. Adeliza understood this in the few moments where Castiel had her trapped. Sam couldn't call off the angels - only Dean. And if Dean was okay with it, she could kiss her life goodbye. She could kiss her _plans_ goodbye. She sent Dean a fleeting, desperate look.

 _I swear to whoever out there that cares, if Dean Winchester spares me, I'll return the favor._

"Okay, chuckles!" She'd never been so relieved to hear that mocking, cynical tone in her life. "She's on our side - see, she's even helping out with the case!"

Castiel had his hand poised to smite, but he hesitated, glanced over at Dean, and relented. Adeliza dropped to the ground, scowling.

"I think this won't count as one of my favors after all," Adeliza murmured to him. At his obvious shock, she sent him a gaze filled with a meaning he was sure to receive.

The message was simple.

If he had her back, he'd get rewarded.

And right now he'd bought himself time. Once her favors let up, she wouldn't make the first shot at him - she'd wait for him to attack, then swiftly finish it...

"Why keep this demon filth around?" The other angel in the room spat at her.

"Who the hell are you?" Dean snapped instead of answering the question.

"Dean, this is Uriel," Castiel informed quickly. He seemed like he was at the end of his fuse with the questioning, even though he shouldn't have expected anything different. Humans had always had an annoying desire to know everything about everyone. "But we have more important matters to attend to. The rising of Samhain - have you stopped it?"

"What?"

"Have you located the witch?" He tried again.

"Yes, we've located the witch," Dean said.

"And is the witch dead?"

"No, but we know who it is," Dean added. Adeliza had resorted to leaning up against the wall, a few feet behind the brothers in case the angels tried anything funny, and tore open one of her candy bars. _Happy Halloween,_ she thought to herself.

"Apparently, the witch knows who you are, too." Castiel crossed over the room and snatched a pouch off of the bedside drawer, holding it up for them to see. "This was inside the wall of your room. If we hadn't found it, surely the two of you would be dead."

Sam glanced over at Adeliza, probably thinking about what she'd have done if they both died. "Don't worry," she winked. "I'd avenge you."

Castiel glared at her and turned back to Dean. "Do you know where the witch is now?"

"We're..." Dean hesitated, looking at Sam. They shared a silent conversation that lasted only half a second, "working on it."

"That's unfortunate." Castiel grimaced.

"I'm going to just cut across the small talk here, because with my Sherlock Holmes skills of deduction, this is going to save us a lot of time," Adeliza interrupted, and it was true. She'd been quiet most of the time because she was piecing together not what the angels were saying, but what they _weren't_ saying. "This is one of your Luci Locks, and apparently you two angelic cuties are too innocent to stop it. Some 'soldiers of heaven'," she scoffed.

Instead of spitting out another insult or threat like Adeliza figured he would, Castiel only stared at her in mild surprise.

"You remember Alma?"

And with a horrified expression, Adeliza quickly disappeared.

:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:

Dean looked at the spot where Adeliza disappeared with no emotion on his face, but internally his mind was spinning a thousand miles per hour. And here he thought he'd pieced the demon together pretty well. A vigilante, rebel of Lilith; here only to help them four more times before disappearing. Cocky, independent, and disturbingly relatable. But how could someone with _no emotions_ be so terrified of three simple words?

"Alma? Who's Alma?" Sam asked before he could.

Castiel and Uriel shared a terse, sidelong look. Shortly, Uriel nodded.

"Alma is... another angel," Castiel explained, pausing slightly. "Our sister is normally busy with celestial affairs, but in the 1800s, a small plague was needed to expose hiding demon spawns. As the plague grew to an end, some of Heaven's most powerful soldiers were chosen to wipe the spawns out. Alma's vessel was Adeliza's mother."

"Castiel, you do know what this means, correct?" the otherwise silent angel's voice rang throughout the room. Dean felt it was inappropriate to cut through such a powerful tension. But then again, when had he ever cared about that?

"Say he doesn't. What does it mean then, giggles?" Dean asked. The underlying desire to know, however, had failed to hide.

But without another word on the subject, the two angels left.


	9. Whispers In The Air

_"It remembers. How could it remember?"_

 _"Uriel! She's not an 'it', she's a girl, and you will refer to her as such..."_

 _"Don't be foolish, Alma. You may have history with this demon filth - more so than others - but whatever you met before is gone. If you don't kill it, I'll will myself! It's a monster just like the rest of them!"_

 _ **"SILENCE, URIEL!"**_

 _Mountains shook in the distance. Avalanches sent peaks of snow crashing down into the ground, and her voice howled through the world all at once as violent winds tore entire houses apart._

 _The Archangel Michael himself looked on as Uriel recoiled. He was silent for a moment, thinking, then addressed the sister that had always been in his favor. "What do you suggest, Alma?"_

 _"My vessel had one wish. She asked me to save Adeliza, and I know with certainty that her request has not yet been fulfilled. Not while her soul still writhes around in corruption."_

 _"Save a demon? It's impossible, is it not?"_

 _"I won't rest until I find a solution. And if all fails, then I'll kill her myself. I swear it."_

:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:

She didn't return to finish off the witch. It'd been days since Adeliza contacted the Winchester brothers, and she didn't plan to do so anytime soon. Instead she and Raum found themselves on a grotesque, crowded public bus to Minot, and then a taxi to Warwick.

"I'm going to slaughter everyone once I leave," Adeliza growled at Raum. "The entire bus is going to go up in flames."

"Even the child behind you?" Raum mused with a humored smile. He was getting more tolerable to be around, especially since both were well aware of their 'need to know' basis.

"Especially the child behind me."

With one last wail and a strong kick to Adeliza's seat, Adeliza whirled around and let her eyes turn wholly black. The little girl's eyes widened to the size of saucers and she let out an ear-shattering scream, fleeing to the back of the bus. She made sure nobody else had seen - after all, Lilith's spies could be anywhere - and turned back to Raum, a smug smile on her face.

"You're despicable." Raum shook his head. The bus finally pulled to a stop, but not before Adeliza let a small jet of fire shoot out from her fingertip. It caught onto a man's suit and was quick to spread to the rest of his body, and then another persons', and then another.

Adeliza calmly exited the bus as the citizens behind her went into a frenzy. Raum followed closely after, and the doors locked themselves afterwards. Humans banged and scratched at the glass, trying to pry open the mysteriously solid windows.

"Let them out," Raum said with a roll of his eyes. "We're trying to be _inconspicuous,_ you bitch _."_

The doors opened wide and scorched and smoldering civilians flooded out of the vehicle; all failed to notice the pout gracing a certain, unscathed woman's lips. "You're no fun," she sighed.

"You're not responsible," he quipped. "You can kill the taxi driver, okay?"

"Deal."

Warwick was smaller than Adeliza expected it would be. On the way into the town the sign's population read only 66. Luckily that meant that it'd be easier to find clues on the Limbo specialist, but that was only in town. The man said she lived _near_ Warwick and there was plenty of countryside to look through.

She couldn't kill the taxi driver after all. If he died, there was only a handful of suspects in Warwick, and she was pretty sure that they'd go straight for the new people. The new people who were currently scowling over the fact that Warwick had no grocery store, just a bar. One school and a bar. That was it.

"The bomb shelter could fit about six of these houses," Adeliza grimaced. "Ugh... I'm starting to wish I'd let the angels smite me."

"Every time you mention the angels, they show up. It's like Bloody Mary, idiot," Raum said with a roll of his eyes.

"What the fuck did you just call me?"

He paused; while Adeliza wasn't as powerful, she could sure give him a run for his money. She had too much pride to let anyone get away with disrespecting her, and it seemed like there was a lot of that going around these days. The Winchesters thought just because she owed them, it meant they could yank her around like a dog on a leash? Hell no! She did what she wanted _when_ she wanted. If anything, she was leading _them_ on.

A sense of hierarchy was one of the traits that Adeliza carried from her human life to her demon one. Suppressed by only fear of death, she expanded her influence and rule to all those surrounding her, subtly manipulating their emotions and decisions.

She kept a hard gaze at Raum as he begrudgingly uttered as close to an apology as she was going to get. "Nothing, your _highness."_

"I'm going to make a phone call. Check the bar for the Limbo freak, and while you're at it, check yourself," Adeliza commanded, smirking. "It'd be a shame to waste such a pretty face."

He narrowed his eyes at her but obeyed. She stared at his retreating form and once she was satisfied he was gone, she pulled out her cellphone. Messages from Sam, of course.

 **Tall Demon Freak: Adeliza what the hell was that? Wtf do the angels know about you?**

 **I Stole Your Brother's Soul: Glad to see you have better grammar than Dean. As for your question: angels walking the planet aren't as rare as 'Ye Celestial Bodies' make it out to be.**

Sam responded almost immediately. _Desperate,_ she mused to herself.

 **Tall Demon Freak: Well where did you go? I had to use my psychic powers on the Halloween demon.**

 **I Stole Your Brother's Soul: I swear to fucking Lucifer, Sam, if you mention your freakish demon blood to me one more time, I will flee to Hawaii. I'm not getting caught up in your dumb man angst.**

 **Tall Demon Freak: at least you're honest. You think Ruby's acting strange these days?**

Adeliza, getting sick of texting, decided to just go ahead and call him; her opinions on Ruby were too vast for a mere flip phone's capability to express. Again, he answered on the first ring like a teenage girl expecting a call from her boyfriend.

"Ruby's always acting strange. If you had a pinch of sensibility in your entire existence, you'd take that demon knife of yours and kill her immediately."

Sam's voice had a hint of irritation in it. _"And I shouldn't do the same to you?"_

Was that a hint of protectiveness Adeliza detected? Oh, lord, this was getting more twisted by the second... "If you had a pinch of sensibility in your entire existence, you'd kill us both. But since we both know that's not happening, here's my words of wisdom: the _instant_ you begin to question her motives, you get out. No hesitation, no excuses."

The sheer intensity radiating from Adeliza's voice allowed Sam to easily decipher it, even through the static side effect of the cheap throw-away phone. It left him with shivers shooting up his spine, and it took him a few moments to gather himself before he could respond.

 _"Okay... Okay. But I have one more thing I need to know, and answer me honestly."_

"And what's that?" Adeliza mused. She could see Raum out of the corner of her eye. He was making his way over to her, a slip of paper between his fingers.

 _"Who were you? Who_ are _you?"_

Ah, a question she had many answers to... A question to fill novels, to fill entire gospels.

"I would answer you, Samuel, I really would... but it's going to cost you," she purred, and on that note, she hung up, leaving him to think it through.

She turned to face Raum, giving him an expectant look.

"I found our Zella."


	10. Tongue Tied

*Warning: It gets gory*

Adeliza let her eyes scan over the address on the slip of paper Raum had handed her. It wasn't far from there were by any means, and by the photo reference he had of the house, it looked like Zella was alive and well.

"Okay..." she looked up at him. "We can leave now. But you're going to need to change into a crow." At the quizzical tilt of his head, Adeliza elaborated. "You're eight inches taller than me and you're a man. If that's not threatening to a hermit, I don't know what is."

"What about you?" Raum scoffed. His hand gestured to her entire person: she had a leather jacket, tight pants, blood-red lipstick, and a constant aura of dissatisfaction surrounding her. "Adeliza, you may be short, but you simply radiate darkness."

She sighed in exasperation and took a tissue out of her pocket, using it to wipe off her lipstick. "Better?" she snapped.

"No."

"Fine. Give me your damn coat."

After a displeased Raum shrugged off his newest deep blue jacket, Adeliza pulled it on, grimacing as it fell to her ankles. "You realize there's an angel who always wears trench coats too, right?"

"Then that angel must have a fantastic sense of style," he quipped. "While you're at it, wipe that scowl off your face along with your makeup."

"As I skin you alive? Gladly." Adeliza glowered at him.

Raum only gave her a cheeky grin, and he shrunk down into a bird, leaving a pile of clothes in his wake. Out of spite for his insult, she stepped on his clothes on the way to the road. He'd let out an indignant crow at that.

Raum flew ahead as Adeliza trailed behind him, hardly paying any attention to her surroundings. She sort of wished that "Meg" was still alive. She couldn't for the life of her call Meg by her original name anymore ever since that Winchester fiasco. Back when Adeliza raked in soul deal after soul deal, it was she and Meg who wreaked chaos at the command of Azazel while Lilith was incapacitated. She remembered hearing Raum's name pass through conversation a few times over the centuries, but for a man who claimed to steal from kings and turned into a bird, he was relatively unknown.

Reilly, on the other hand... Good God, that pest butted in on everything she could to gain power. It reminded Adeliza of a distant 'buddy' of hers, but he was far more subtle about it and was, more often than not, successful.

Suddenly, Raum let out a loud chirp to catch her attention, and Adeliza focused on the house in front of her. It was painted a deep brown and was made to blend in with the scenery surrounding it, so that had Raum not been there, Adeliza would've surely passed it. The lights were dimmed but noticeably turned on and decorating the walls of the house were sigils Adeliza recognized as shielding runes. To humans, which meant that this woman most likely didn't know much about monsters.

Adeliza made sure Raum was perched on a nearby fence post before knocking on the solid oak door. She could hear muffled clicks of one...Two...Three...Four...Five...Six? Seven locks.

"Talk about trust issues," Adeliza muttered to herself.

The door creaked open, revealing a woman far smaller than Adeliza was. Maybe five foot one, give or take an inch. She had long, silky black hair, a pale face, and beady blue eyes that seemed to hold centuries of wisdom. She stared at Adeliza with extreme caution, like any visitor she could possibly get would be out to kill her.

In the kindest and most welcoming voice she could muster, Adeliza introduced herself. "I'm Adeliza Hyem," she said, revealing her full name to both Raum and Zella. "Are you Zella Yanzova?"

Eyes wide, Zella nodded.

A bit wigged out by her silence, Adeliza cleared her throat and continued. "I'm a researcher on the four dimensions and while my partner's investigating Hell, I'm looking up the lesser known of the four, Limbo - "

Zella suddenly smiled widely and swung her door open on the way. She gestured for Adeliza to come in with the great enthusiasm she was previously lacking. Awkwardly, Adeliza obliged, and she found that this lady wasn't just an expert on Limbo - she was a follower of it.

A single billboard covered an entire wall, and on that board were pinned articles, diagrams, posters, notes, maps, theories, websites, and hasty sketches. Despite the chaos brewing on that particular wall, the rest of the house appeared well kept and homey.

Adeliza settled herself into the plush sofa and watched as Zella grabbed a notebook from a drawer. Instead of sitting across from Adeliza, she sat directly beside her. She scribbled something down on the paper and showed it to the demon.

 _Sorry, I have no voice_ , it read, _I was born without one_.

"Oh," Adeliza said aloud, perplexed.

Inconvenient, but it didn't make a difference.

"Okay... well, do you mind if I ask you a few questions about Limbo?"

Zella shook her head."Great," Adeliza gave her a smile that she hoped didn't appear too fake. "So, what, in your definition, is limbo?"

Zella's eyes sparkled at this and she hurridly began to scribble down her answer. Her hands moved like lightning and it was only ten seconds before she presented a lengthy paragraph.

 _It's precisely what is sounds like: limbo. The twilight zone. Nothing seems to be real and time moves slowly. Say someone's in limbo for a month in our time: it'll have been longer in their time. The thing about their time is that they're said to age as normal, according to many powerful astral projectors, but for me Limbo means empty. Lonely. Dark. Souls floating around lost in their own head_.

This time Adeliza didn't have to fake her fondness over the woman. She was straight and to the point, unquestioning — Adeliza liked that in a person.

"Thanks, Zella. How do people know this if it's impossible to open a portal to Limbo?" Adeliza asked. She was hinting at a way to open limbo, and thankfully Zella was smart enough to pick up on it. She appeared grateful at the subtly as she picked up her pen.

 _Impossible? No. But there's several objects needed... some that I'm not even sure exist. One of which is a feather willingly given from an angel. The second is power – I think it's souls or at the very least astral training. The third is an actual astral projector to pinpoint the exact location, and that brings us to our fourth and final item... the blood of the antichrist or the blood of a nephilim_.

Zella hesitated slightly, then quickly added one last sentence. _You're looking to open Limbo, aren't you_?

There was no point in lying to her. After all, who was she going to tell?

'Okay, that was rude and uncalled for,' Adeliza thought to herself. Zella was the epitome of a human she could learn to like.

"Yes, I am," Adeliza said.

Zella smiled, though she looked a bit skeptical. _Well, I wish you the best of luck..._

"What a wonderfully one-sided conversation!"

Adeliza froze at the high-pitched song of the torturer himself. She snatched the notes and shoved them in her pocket, standing up and facing him. Alistair was there and he was holding Raum's crow form by the neck.

"A little birdie tells me you're going against Hell?" Alistair giggled. He thrust the bird at her, and seconds later Raum transformed back into a human. While it was the least of their problems, Raum conjured up a pair of jeans and shrugged them on. She tried to ignore the awkward silence after he'd finished, but _really_?

Zella was standing behind Adeliza and cowering in fear, eyes wide as she looked between Alistair and Raum.

"Alistair," she greeted. "It's been awhile. I assume you're doing well?" She asked as though it was as casual as mentioning the weather.

"Me? Oh, just fantastic. But my hellhounds are missing their favorite chew toy..." he trailed off. At that moment Adeliza's phone started ringing. She shot him a cynical grin and opened it, hoping that the distraction would give Raum enough time to both dress himself and conjure up a plan.

"Speaking of chew toys..." Adeliza mumbled, holding the phone up to her ear. "Winchester." She noticed Alistair perk up at the name, a nasty grin spreading across his face like the Cheshire Cat.

 _"We're ready to cash in one of our favors, hellbreath. So why don't you slap on your_ _monkey_ _wings and come on over?"_

"I'll take a raincheck. My schedule is a bit packed at the moment." Adeliza eyed the other demon warily.

There was a scoff. " _With what_?"

"Put him on speaker, Addie! Come on, give us a little heart-to-heart reunion."

"Shut the hell up before I skin you alive, Alistair!" Adeliza snarled at him. Her vision seemed to tint shades of scarlet rage. For some odd reason, the thought of Alistair being anywhere near the brothers made her sick to her stomach.

What the hell was happening lately? Why was she suddenly getting these random-ass emotions that she, a respectfully unemotional and psychotic young woman, had no business feeling?! She wasn't sure, but she wanted answers. She wanted to know what changed.

"Always resorting to violence," Alistair clucked his tongue disapprovingly.

"What did you just say?" Dean asked, his voice a mixture of fear and disbelief. "Why are you with Alistair?"

Without replying, Adeliza snapped her phone shut. How could a man who spent his time backtalking death and taunting evil be so affected by the mere sound of Alistair? The answer was simple. Someone was messing with her pet humans.

'Raum,' Adeliza said in her mind. 'on my count, you take Zella and run.'

 _You think you can take on Alistair alone?_

'No. I know I can. One... two... now!'

Adeliza grabbed Zella and thrust her into Raum's arms faster than Alistair could even begin to process what'd happened. Once he did, all his humor and mocking ceased. He was filled with a deep, terrifying rage. But so was she, and hers was mixed in with her favorite weapon of choice: spite. Spite and rage fueled demons and unlike Alistair, her soul was overflowing with it.

"You want to dance, Addie?" Alistair said. He strode forwards and Adeliza didn't back off, not when they were eye to eye, not when he wrapped his hand around her throat, and not when his voice snarled poison words into her ear. _"Mitto ad inferni profunda et Adiuro vos aeternum. Mitto ad inferni profunda et - "_

Adeliza pressed her lips against his, and she was living proof that not even monsters could resist temptation. As his tongue roamed her mouth, she smiled and clamped her teeth down on it, then stood back as he yelled out in agony. She spat it out on the ground.

"I'm sorry, you were saying?" Adeliza batted her eyelashes. "You know what? Don't worry about it. I'll finish it for you. _Mitto ad inferni profunda et Adiuro vos aeternum, Mitto ad inferni profunda et Adiuro vos aeternum, Mitto ad inferni profunda et Adiuro vos aeternum - "_

His eyes turned a milky white unlike any other demon she'd ever seen, and she watched in satisfaction as black smoke poured from her mouth and traveled down to the depths of hell. She was just about to go find the Winchesters when she spotted the severed tongue on the ground, then the stirring man, and decided to bring them a homecoming present.

A/N: Sorry this took so long lmao. I accidentally turned it into one giant paragraph and had to go back on my phone and it went like "enter, space, enter, space - FUCK I PRESSED THE WRONG BUTTON RESET RESET - enter, space, enter space - SHIT I SJDSK" and yeah. Hope you liked it; sorry about the tongue thing


	11. White Lies

_"Why the fuck do you have a tongue in your hands?!"_

Sam was staring at her in horror, his eyes transfixed on the piece of flesh. Dean gagged and looked the other way as Adeliza grinned. "It's Alistair's. I bit it off," she said excitedly, sounding like a child who handcrafted a present.

Dean bit back a smile. How was he supposed to be angry when she not only bit off his torturer's tongue, sent him to hell, and then presented said tongue to them like a dog bringing a dead squirrel? Sam obviously didn't understand, but he was content at the moment. Although, he was pretty sure he'd be a bit more content if Adeliza gave them the answers they wanted.

"I'm putting this in your fridge," she stated, and the brothers could only follow as she strode into their kitchen. She was caught in a Devil's trap a few feet from said fridge and sighed. "Damn. I forgot I was a demon there for a second."

The eldest Winchester rolled his eyes and scratched out the paint on the ground, successfully freeing her. Adeliza shook her head. "Nevermind. The moment's ruined." With that, she incinerated the tongue with a snap of her fingers.

"How do you do that?" Sam asked her as she let the ashes fall to the floor. "The... fire stuff."

"Witchcraft — OH, FUCK, I FORGOT THE PSYCHIC!"

"The what?!"

"SHIT, I CAN'T BELIEVE — _RAUM!"_

Luckily, this was the one time he didn't come when she called him. If he'd have appeared right there before the Winchesters, there was no telling what would've happened, although Adeliza had a pretty good guess that it'd end up with her number one bodyguard dead.

Sam gave her a suspicious glance. "What psychic? And who's Raum? And why were you even fighting this Alistair guy in the first place?" he asked lowly. "You're keeping secrets from us, Adeliza."

Adeliza didn't want to tell them about the psychic, or who Raum was. She settled for a half-ass version of the truth — something that wouldn't get her into trouble with the brothers, Lilith's followers, and something that wouldn't be reported back to Ruby. "I know this psychic who supposedly had some information about how to defeat Lilith," she said smoothly. "Raum is a... _friend,"_ she cringed just _saying_ it. Sam — _Sam_ was a friend; Raum was a nuisance. "He came with me to find this psychic, but before we could get anything useful out of her, Alistair showed up. I had Raum take the psychic away and I kicked Ali's ass."

"Ali?" was all Dean could think to get from that.

"Demon nicknames," Adeliza dismissed.

He pondered this. "Any more demon contacts we should be aware of?"

"Meggy, Lilly, Rubes, Ali, Riles — ew, fuck that actually, just call her Riley — Crow-Crow, Kenneth — "

"We get it," Sam cut across before she got too far off track. "We're a team now, Adeliza. Anything to do with killing Lilith should involve us too," he told her disapprovingly. "And we should know _why_ you talk with angels, and why they know you so well."

Adeliza took a deep breath, realizing that they were right. She didn't like it, but they technically _were_ a team. But her dispute with Lilith was on a level Sam had no business dealing with; it wasn't just avenging Dean anymore. Now it was a battle for _Hell._ By the end of it, either Adeliza would be tortured for eternity or she'd be crowned Queen of Hell. Still, she decided that in the future, she'd include the Winchesters on her plans... for the most part.

"I'll tell you," she said finally, biting the inside of her cheek. It was an awful habit she'd picked up from Sam and now she'd been accustomed to doing it whenever she was nervous or unsure. "But not all at once. I'll tell you enough for a favor, and when I'm done, any more is going to cost you."

"What do you mean, not all at once?" Dean scowled, annoyed.

Sam gave him a pointed look. "Dean, that's fair." A muscle in his brother's jaw twitched, but Dean didn't argue. "We'll start tonight. Come back at midnight, after we're done researching these seals."

She nodded, and with that, she left to the bomb shelter.

Zella was curled up in a ball when Adeliza entered the room, and Raum was sitting in a desk chair, looking very annoyed at the shaking woman in the corner.

"Look who finally decided to show up," Raum scowled. "She's been sitting there for hours now. I tried to talk to her at first and she fainted, so now she's just crying."

Adeliza shook her head, hiding a smirk. "You're an _awful_ person. I'd faint seeing you were my kidnapper too."

"Yeah, from awe," Raum grinned. He raised his left hand and gestured to his admittedly impressive face. Whoever his parents were deserved a thanks for bringing a gorgeous specimen into the world, but were also to blame for bringing such an annoying demon.

Adeliza shook her head and turned back to face Zella. Though she really didn't want to have to play good-cop, she supposed that it was necessary for this. Adelzia crouched down to her level and put on a show of faux concern. Zella was supposedly a psychic, but she didn't seem to see through her act. "Hey, we're not here to hurt you. We actually saved you from one very bad... eh, what's the word?"

"Bitch?" Raum suggested.

"I was going for something more classy, but yes, thank you, Raum," Adeliza dismissed, turning back to face Zella. "We could take you back to your house, sure, but there'll be ten more demons waiting for you. And if you try to run from them, there'll be twenty more just around the corner."

Still shaking, Zella managed to nod. She suddenly lunged forwards and tackled Adeliza into a tight hug. Adeliza went as stiff as a board and awkwardly pat her on the back once and then shot Raum, who was shaking with silent laughs, a death glare. Zella eventually retreated back into her corner, but at least she wasn't crying anymore.

Adeliza turned to face Raum whom was still snickering at her misfortune. "I see you bite off Alistair's tongue and hug someone in one day... I love life."

"Why do I keep you around?" Adeliza scoffed.

Raum grinned that stupid grin again. "Because you love me."

"I liked you better when you were broody and mysterious."

"What can I say? We're pals now."

Adeliza shook her head again and checked her watch. It was still early in the day, and she figured that Zella might like some time alone. Also, she really didn't want to be in the room with the woman anymore.

"I have six hours until I have to meet the Winchesters," she stated.

"And there's a bar filled to the top in demons over in Montgomery," Raum replied.

Adeliza couldn't help the smirk that tugged at her lips. "What are you suggesting, Raum?"

"Let's burn some shit down."


	12. A Midnight Tale

Sam wasn't quite sure on how to react when Adeliza returned six hours later covered head to toe in dirt and soot, her hair matted to her forehead in sweat. This was probably the first time he'd seen her in a state other than neat and put together, but she had the same grin on her face as when she had delivered them Alistair's tongue, which he had noted was particularly gruesome on its own. He could only imagine what she'd done _this_ time that would merit such a high level of happiness.

"Adeliza, what the hell?" Sam whispered, glancing towards the doorway to check that Dean hadn't noticed her. He was sure that both he and Bobby would have a bitchfit if he noticed that there were random scorch marks on the carpet.

"What the hell, indeed," was all Adeliza would say in return. She wasn't sure if she wanted to explain how she and Raum singlehandedly set a forest fire in Canada. It was admittedly by accident, as she had only meant to set fire to an abandoned barn, but apparently, Adeliza's hellfire was a little too strong for the mere snow to hold back.

Sam sighed, realizing that he was going to get nowhere with her. "Well, Dean's gonna freak when he sees you — take a shower or something. You better not have killed anyone."

"What do you take me for, a barbarian?" Adeliza scoffed at the accusation. Still, she headed upstairs to find Bobby's bathroom, and all Sam could think was how the man would react knowing that an ancient demon was about to use his towels.

As the sound of hot water moving through the pipes began, Dean wandered into the kitchen and gave Sam a confused look. "Dude, who's showering?"

"Adeliza," Sam said. Dean stared at him for a few seconds blank of all emotion until the brothers couldn't take it anymore, and they began to laugh. "Man, what happened to us?" Sam snickered, "We almost busted our asses trying to kill Azazel and now a demon's using our shower."

"And she's about to tell us a bedtime story," Dean chuckled. "I dunno, man, she's growing on me. Like a weird, itchy fungus."

That was true, for the most part. Of course, there was always going to be this part of him that couldn't _entirely_ trust her, since she was a demon, but at least she was more dependable than _Ruby._ And there was the whole mysterious stigma behind her. How she managed to weaken Castiel when they'd first met (which he still couldn't wrap his mind around. How the hell does a _demon_ get the advantage on an _angel?_ ) and apparently, she was well acquainted with angel lore since her mother was a vessel. If her own mom was harboring an angel then how did Adeliza end up in hell?

Dean had a lot of questions, all of which he hoped could be answered as Adeliza stepped back into the kitchen. Her hair was dripping wet and apart from her pants and a bra, she was wearing nothing else. She didn't seem bothered by the fact, but Sam sure did. "Ad..Adeliza, where's your shirt?"

"Burnt. If you're so bothered, get me a shirt unless you want me to leave for another thirty minutes." Dean raised his eyebrows. "What? I like to have a matching wardrobe," Adeliza defended.

"Just take one of mine," the youngest Winchester sighed, and Adeliza disappeared for only a minute before coming back with a (shocker) plaid shirt.

"Jesus, do you own anything other than plaid?" she said in disgust. "I feel like a fucking lumberjack."

"So are did you come here to talk or to critique our clothing, Ms. Paris Fashion?" Dean scowled.

Adeliza smirked. "I don't see why I can't do both," she said. Dean gave her a flat look. "Fine, fine, let's get comfortable because this is going to be a long story no matter what you want to know."

They had decided to settle down in the living room; Adeliza spread across the entire couch, feeling more than comfortable with her feet propped up on the couch's arm and her arms behind her head. The brothers took up the last two chairs and both sat up in an attentive pose.

"So, boys, what do ya want to know?"

"Your mother," Sam began and Adeliza rolled her eyes, thinking it a cliche question. "What happened after she became a vessel? What did you do? Was that when you sold your soul?"

This was beginning to sound like some twisted interview on Fox. "Sit back and relax, boys, because this is going to take awhile."

"If you didn't know already, I am one old bitch. I was born in 1819, in the proud country of London, England—"

"Where's your accent?" Adeliza shot Dean a severely annoyed look. Five seconds into her monologue and he was already interrupting. Evidently seeing that this was not the time, Dean looked at her sheepishly.

"I was _getting_ to that before you _rudely_ interrupted me. After I was born and graced the earth with my presence, my parents moved to Spain. Father loved the culture and my mother grew up there, loved that country so much she just _had_ to raise me there. So, Dean, had I not learned to adopt the American and English accent and instead faced racist pricks, I would have a _Spanish_ accent. ¿Eso responde tu pregunta, imbécil?"

Dean didn't speak a word of Spanish but he knew Adeliza enough to guess that she just insulted him. Glaring, he bit his tongue and decided not to say anything.

"Anyways," Adeliza continued, "When I turned 13, we moved back to London. I had to learn an English accent, dress up in corsets, and by the time I was 16 I was engaged to Mr. James Clarke..."

 **171 years ago**  
 **London, England**  
 **October 3rd, 1837**

Adeliza was wearing perhaps the nicest dress she had ever seen in her life. Leon Hyem was plenty rich, and he had spent a considerable amount of money on making sure that the dress she wore this evening was nothing less than perfect. The gown's corset was a dark blue adorned with the finest flowery stitching; the skirt was something out of a storybook, seemingly shifting from black to purple in the flickering candlelight. Her hair was pinned up and tied into a braided bun at the back, ringlets escaping and framing the sides of her face as if she were a masterpiece. Ladies must not be vain, but as the seventeen-year-old looked in the mirror, she couldn't help but marvel at her beauty.

James Clarke had helped her out of the carriage carefully. He was a handsome man if she had ever seen one; his hair was combed into elegant curls and he wore a fine suit. He was everything that Adeliza was supposed to look for in a man: taller, stronger, wealthy. Perhaps if she had grown elsewhere she would not seem so shallow, but that wasn't the only reason why Adeliza loved him. He was remarkably suave, knowing just when to compliment her and just the right topics of conversation and knew just the right spots where she would erupt in goosebumps.

"You look like the stars tonight, beauty," James murmured as he pulled out a velvet chair for her, and henceforth the dinner commenced.

They spoke to each other all evening long; never once did they disagree or if they did, the other never showed it. Adeliza could feel her heart thumping against her chest, could dance away the night as James knelt and pulled out a black box. On top of the sleek silver was a red diamond, gleaming under the chandelier. He told her how he'd protect her, he'd care for her and how nothing could ever come between them.

Foolishly, she believed him.

* * *

Dean's eyes fell upon the same ring hanging from a chain around Adeliza's neck. He was surprised he hadn't noticed it before, now that it appeared so obvious. She followed his gaze and smirked, taking the ring from the chain and sliding it onto her finger. "Still a perfect fit. It's a shame I have no need for money; maybe I could've gotten a small fortune for this."

But somehow Sam doubted that she would ever give it away. She had worn it all these years— to say that she didn't care at _all_ was a bald-faced lie.

"Let's skip to after the plague, shall we? My mother became a vessel, yadda-yadda-yadda, my son dies, and our wonderful James Clarke..."

 **165 years ago  
London, England  
December 6th, 1843**

Pride was an ugly sin of which millions were guilty of, Adeliza included. But never in a million years would Adeliza have guessed that it affected her wonderful James Clark as much as it did...

Five years after her husband survived the plague, his once handsome face was left with hideous, circular scars— which Adeliza wouldn't have ordinarily even batted an eye at; she was still in mourning of little baby Leo, of her parents, and now, of her beloved husband James. Technically he was still breathing. His limbs worked fine, he was perfectly capable of speech, and if he turned the other way you would've never suspected anything different.

But the man she knew was dead. He was replaced by a monster.

See, James didn't take his loss of beauty good at all. He was ashamed, so horrified that he couldn't bear to go out into public. Instead of growing sad he grew bitter at everything. Bitter of his son's death, of his in-laws, of his beauty, and most recently, of Adeliza. Why should _she_ get to walk around, looking beautiful and stunning while he was forced to hide in the shadows? She acted like _her_ life was drastically changed after all of this, as if her pain were at _all_ comparable to _his._

So, the man resorted to righting the wrongs life threw at him. If Adeliza thought that her life was bad _now,_ she'd just have to wait until James _showed_ her what a bad life was like.

He was an animal. At the slightest sound, he would snap, turn around and beat her until she was black and blue until she was screaming out in agony. But completely after he would be calm—charming, as if nothing had happened at all. With his hair falling over his face he would put his lips next to her ear and hold the sobbing woman close, stroking her hair.

 _"You're still beautiful to me,"_ he whispered snidely, repeating her words. _"Even if the world thinks you're not."_

After this, he would lock Adeliza in the bedroom and let her out for dinners and chores, and then he would treat her like a queen, would grovel and beg for forgiveness and cry until she gave in. But deep down, Adeliza had a growing anger, a thirst for blood. Each time he beat her she felt her vision tint more and more red until all she could begin to see was shades of scarlet.

One day, after disappearing for a week, James returned to the house. Adeliza didn't bother looking up at him as he entered the bedroom.

"My stars, look at me."

But she knew better now. If she looked at him, he'd fly into a rage, ashamed that anyone had caught a glimpse of him. She kept her gaze on the floor.

He walked closer, used his hand to force her chin upwards.

 _It's finally happened,_ she realized, her eyes wide, _he's finally broke me._

In front of her wasn't the crusted scars she had grown accustomed to throughout the years. He was _normal._ He was _better_ than normal; the man in front of her was an enhanced form of what he used to be. His amber eyes were dancing with happiness, and he let out a laugh as he picked up his wife and spun her around.

But a he spun her, Adeliza caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Her eye was swollen almost shut and her face was varying in shades of purple to yellow bruises. She had a split lip, blackened hand marks around her neck.

"Everything is going to be okay again, my stars," he murmured, "Better than okay."

From the hallway, Adeliza could hear a soft crying. She shot up at the sound; it was the sound that haunted her sleep, rang in her ears whenever she looked at a baby. She sprinted into the hallway and let out a strangled sob. It was her _son._ She shakily took him into her arms and hugged him close. James came up behind her and wrapped his arms around the both of them, and from a distance, it looked like a family or at least a parody of one.

But it was too late for that.

Adeliza looked at James and her vision turned red. She looked at him and her heart beat in her chest, half in fear and half because of her foolish feelings. Staring down at her son, however, she knew that she'd have to at least fake it. For Leo.

And over the next few years, that was exactly what she did. There were moments. Moments when James would explode and give her a slap here and there and while she tried her hardest to ignore it, she couldn't. There was a slow burning rage building up in her chest every time he _dared_ to lay a hand on her. She should've known that it was only a matter of time until the loose seams holding her family together tore entirely.

* * *

Leo was five years old. James was out on the town, always eager to show off his new face, and Adeliza was left home with her son. All was well, it seemed, until _it_ came.

It was a godly screech; loud enough to send both mother and son collapsing to the ground and at enough force to shatter the windows, blow the doors off its hinges, send a piece of glass shooting right into her Leo's throat. As soon as it came it left, and there Adeliza was left, sobbing over her son's death for the second time and wondering what she had done to deserve this life she led.

James returned minutes later. The authorities were already there and though he acted shocked, Adeliza could see the rage brewing in his eyes. He listened to Adeliza answer all the questions and once the officers left them with the body to bury, James beat her. Over, and over, and over and he didn't stop and it was then that she realized that he was going to kill her.

She grabbed a lamp, hit him over the head with it and fled the house, limping and on the verge of collapsing.

It was then that she saw him.

An old man, his hair graying and rotting teeth. Somehow, Adeliza knew that he was here for a reason. His eyes flashed black and carefully stepping over James's unconscious form to get to her, he offered her a cigar.

"No," she declined immediately.

"Let's skip the formalities. This is the second time I've had to do this, so you can bet the price will be raised a bit higher," the old man drawled, "I'll bring young Leo Clark back, but it's going to cost you more than your soul. Last time it was a life for a life; now it's two lives for one."

Even in her shocked state, Adeliza knew what he was implying. Wordlessly, Adeliza walked over to the now waking James Clark. He looked from her to the old man and began begging, "No, no please, Adeliza I l-love you, so much darling, you're m-my sta-ars—"

The old man handed her a knife.

" _Please,_ Addie," he wailed, "I lo-ove you more th-than anything in this world!"

"Shut the fuck up," Adeliza snarled; the red in her vision was overwhelming. Her heart pounded, beating against her chest and she sat on his chest, pinning his arms down to his sides.

She killed him slowly. Made sure he shrieked and while it didn't nearly measure up to the number of times he made her scream out in agony, she felt the satisfaction fuel her. She sliced him up slowly, whispering that he would be ugly again, and before he bled out — just a second — she kissed him. It lasted long and as her murderer began to slip away, he kissed her back, closed his eyes and let out his last, shuddering breath.

* * *

The brothers were silent.

What could you _say_ after something like that? This demon in front of him, they had known her to be cruel. It was one of the reasons why Sam wanted her on their team. But what could you possibly say that would make any more of a difference than just staying silent?

This, perhaps.

"What happened to Leo?"

Adeliza tore her gaze from her ring to look up at Sam.

"I don't know. Alma tracked me down right after that. Crazy bitch half-apologized and half-screamed at me. Told me that she sensed a demon outside the manor and when she sent an angel to kill it, an _angel_ made that fucking noise."

"Adeliza..." Sam trailed off.

Adeliza scowled. "Don't go treating me like a fucking pansy now. I've had centuries and hell and on earth to get over it. Don't forget, Winchester brothers, that I'm a _demon._ But like you said, I'm on your team now. Now if you don't mind, I need to go change out of this ungodly plaid shirt."

She stood up.

But right before she disappeared, both brothers could swear they saw a single tear running down the side of her face.


	13. Radio Girl

Adeliza had fallen into somewhat of a pattern over the next few days. With Lilith now out for her blood again, she stayed at the bomb shelter, watching Zella scribble down notes with her nose buried in piles of books. Now that Limbo was less of a theory and more of a deadline, the psychic managed to sniff out a set trail. There were four _main_ items — a feather willingly given by an angel, a _lot_ of souls, a psychic with the necessary abilities to follow the frequency of the energies, you could say, and the last and most difficult item. They either needed a child of a demon or a child of an angel, both of which were unheard of. As far as both Adeliza and Zella knew, as soon as one came into existence, they were soon killed immediately by dear old heaven itself. And while she may be a demon, Adeliza wasn't willing to have a child and extract blood just so some stick-up-the-ass angel could kill it immediately. That was messy and not to mention _fucked._

And those were only the final four things. They already had Zella, who was quite confident that she was able to pick up on where the portal would be exactly if she was in the right region, but that didn't make it any easier. Zella also had to find out where the portal could even be _opened._ You couldn't just go and pick a random spot— that'd be way too convenient. Zella had to use both her knowledge of astronomy to track the star-patterns over regions, had to monitor the energies via astral projection (which was no simple feat), and then had to travel to each place to see which one felt right. There could either be thousands of possible contenders or only one.

But this was the only chance Adeliza had to take down Hell's council. Even if the Winchesters managed to put Lilith six feet under, she still had all of her cronies to deal with and Adeliza really, _really_ wanted Hell under her control.

There was another reason why Adeliza was all of a sudden being so helpful to Zella and becoming so involved in the research. She hated even _thinking_ about it but she had to face the facts: that night with the Winchesters, telling them the basics, it sort of... _unveiled_ her human life. Previously it'd been hard to recall, foggy and she couldn't make sense of it, but now it seemed like everything was so _clear._

She thought of James. Wondered where he was now, whether he was in Heaven or Hell, whether he was being tortured or what his Heaven would look like. Would she be in it? Or would he be in a room of mirrors, forever admiring himself for all eternity? She played with the ring on her finger, seeing herself in the reflection and noticing imperfections all of a sudden. She had a scar running down her lip from where he'd split it. Another down her jaw. Scratches along her throat from being choked.

Catching a glimpse of this, she slammed her hand down on the table and growled. Zella gave her a concerned look, but she ignored it. She was so _angry_ again— wanted to kill him all over again, and then there was this cursed part of her that wanted the _opposite._ She realized all at once the similarities of the men she slept with and the man who James was. They all had curly black hair, combed back elegantly and she usually found these men in the most exquisite of pubs. They all treated her classily, aggressive in the heat of the moment and then _worshipping_ her in the morning.

 _Are you alright?_

Adeliza's eyes scanned the slip of paper Zella slid over to her. The psychic looked concerned, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She gave her tight smile; the last thing she wanted to do right now was to spill her guts to some human. "Don't worry about it."

Zella opened her mouth, picked up the pen to write more, but by the time she looked up, Adeliza was gone.

* * *

He leaned over the pool table, eyes narrowed in concentration. _This is five hundred dollars on the line here, Sam,_ he told himself, _focus._ He drew back the pool stick, straightened himself, and —

"What's up?"

Sam jerked forwards and with that simple movement, he had won the entire game of pool. Hell, that was probably the best move he'd made in his entire life.

Dean chuckled happily and turned to face Adeliza. "This is the first time I'm actually glad you showed up out of the blue."

Adeliza smirked and sat down next to him, taking a drink from his beer. "Well, that hurts," she gasped, "because I'm _always_ happy to see you."

"Save it for the funny papers, wise-ass." Dean took his drink back, but the sarcasm was less snappy and more humored, a distinct difference from what Adeliza was used to. He sure as hell wasn't treating her like a pansy but _something_ was different.

She looked up at Sam, but he was currently staring off into the distance. "Keep the money," he muttered to the guy, and both Dean and the man looked at him in disbelief. Sam wandered off towards who-knows-where.

Adeliza stood up and glared at the man. "You're not keeping the money."

"The man said," baldy smirked. "And what makes you think I'm gonna listen to _you?"_

Dean was half-expecting her to bash his head into the table, but to his surprise, Adeliza only leaned in with a flirty smile. The man promptly let out a shout and staggered back, tripping over a particularly temperamental drunk. Adeilza turned around just as her eyes flashed back to their normal color.

"You're awful —" Dean began, faltering as his eyes fell upon something he did _not_ want to see. He clenched his jaw and pushed through the crowd of people in order to reach his brother and none other than Ruby herself.

Adeliza slid into the seat next to her. "You look nice tonight —"

"You got a lot of nerve showing up anywhere _near_ me," Dean cut across her sarcastic and would-be _hilarious_ remark. She glared at him for this but decided to let it go.

Ruby scowled at him. "I just have some info, and then I'm gone."

"What is it?" Sam, ever the romantic, was completely fixated on her. Both Dean and Adeliza shot him unimpressed looks. He had obviously _not_ heeded her warning when she told him that Ruby was not to be trusted as far as he could throw her.

"I'm hearing a few whispers —"

"Ooh, great, demon whisperers! _That's_ reliable," Dean said sarcastically.

Adeliza rolled her eyes. "Um, _ouch?_ I'm right here?"

"A girl named Anna Milton escaped from a locked ward yesterday," Ruby went on, "The demons seem pretty keen on finding her. Apparently, some real heavy hitters turned out for the easter-egg hunt."

The number of metaphors these people used on a daily basis absolutely _astounded_ her.

"Why? Who is she?

At this point, Adeliza followed Dean's lead and helped herself to a giant mug of whiskey. They shared a brief toast, implying that they wished Ruby misfortune with a quick glance, and downed half of it and one gulp.

"I have _no_ idea. But I'm thinking that she's important, 'cause the order is to capture her _alive._ I just figured that whatever the deal is, you might want to find this girl before the demons do. "

Sam glanced over at them. "Look, maybe we _should_ check it out."

"Actually, we're working on a case, but thanks," Dean winked. Adeliza wasn't sure when _we_ was added into the equation here, but she decided to roll with it.

"What case?" Ruby snarked.

"Uh, we've got leads. Big leads."

"Sounds dangerous. And you have no problem bringing a different _demon_ along?" Was that a trace of bitterness Adeliza traced? Probably. She could imagine the frustration, trying to infiltrate on the life of the Winchesters, and here Adeliza was accomplishing it just by owing them a few favors.

"Yeah well, it sure beats goose-chasing after some chick who, for all we know, doesn't even exist, just because you _say_ she's important."

Dean was definitely trying to get under Ruby's skin, and Adeliza was delighted to observe that it was working.

" _I'm_ just delivering the news. You can do whatever you want with it. Far as I'm concerned, I told you, I'm done." she stood up to leave (meriting team Anti-Ruby sighs of relief), but Sam held out a hand to stop her.

"Wait, wait, wait — this hospital Anna escaped from — it got a name?"

A few minutes later, Adeliza found herself in the backseat of the Impala, tagging along on an adventure to who-knows-where. It sure as hell beat following star patterns with Zella, and was frankly a more exciting alternative to thinking about the newly available memories.

She figured that she'd extend her company until this whole Anna Milton thing was taken care of. For one: she was too curious now to head back, and for another thing, she wasn't really paying too much attention to the whole breaking of the seals thing. Lucifer walking free wasn't one of her priorities but now, with the memory of her experience with him leaking, she realized that his breaking free would be _bad._

 _"Well, look at the little rebel," Lucifer mused, casting her a breathtaking smile, "Where's your master? They should really keep you demons under a tighter lock."_

 _His fingers tapped against the bars of the cage as he drew nearer. The angels, she noticed, had trapped him in the form of a human, probably so he couldn't burn out the eyes of any demons ordered to guard him. But Adeliza wasn't sure if the word 'human' would really be able to describe his appearance. He was_ breathtaking, _erupting this celestial presence that made her think that she ought to be worshipping him. Maybe, if it were a less experienced demon, they would have._

 _But Adeliza had her taste of handsome devils._

 _As though sensing that she wasn't falling for his charm, Lucifer stepped back, and at once the trance-like state was removed. "Hmm," he hummed thoughtfully, "Interesting. You seem powerful enough. I'll give you three seconds to leave before I kill you. Sound fair?"_

 _"Not really, but that's men for ya," Adeliza snarked. Lucifer barely had enough time to register his surprise before she left once more, leaving the devil staring after her._

After she had openly taunted him, she figured she was well on his hit list. _She_ sure as hell wouldn't forget some puny demon coming onto her turf and snarking off to her.

"Can I get a copy of the missing-persons report?" Sam was saying, drawing Adeliza back to reality. After a brief pause: "Great. Okay, thanks." He hung up and looked at his brother. "Well, Anna Milton's definitely real."

"Don't mean the case is real. And this hospital's a three-day drive."

"We've driven further for less, Dean," Sam scoffed. Dean shook his head in disbelief, looking at Adeliza in the rearview mirror and the two shared a look. Sam followed his brother's gaze. "You got something to say, say it," he snapped.

"Oh, I'm saying it — this _sucks._ "

"You're not pissed we're going after the girl, you're pissed _Ruby_ threw us the tip."

"Right. 'Cause as far as you're concerned, the hell-bitch is practically family. Yeah, boy, something major must've happened while I was downstairs, 'cause I come back, and — and you're BFF with a demon?" Dean grunted, and Adeliza shifted in her seat, sensing where this conversation was going.

"I told you, Dean, she helped me go after Lilith. And don't you think you're being a hypocrite about this?" Sam asked, "You and Adeliza are getting along just _fine._ Sharing drinks — hell, you two look like you're having these inside _jokes_ at my expense!"

 _Whoop, there it is._

"There's a difference," Dean barked, "First, I'm not pretending hellfire back there's done no wrong, but at least I _know_ she's on our side!"

"And _how_ do you know that?"

Adeliza cleared her throat, gaining both the brother's attention. But her eyes were on Sam, lit with fury. "You think I gave Dean a year just for shits and giggles? That got me fucking _tortured,_ Sam. A personal fucking _chew-toy_ for every single hellhound, a punching bag for every bitch who decided that they had a rough day. You know _Alistair,_ Sam? I'm sure _you_ do, Dean — imagine coming face to face with him every day for a _century,_ 'cause that's how long I was in there, Sam, for a hundred and fifty years. And it was _your_ fucking brother who took let me loose, so _yeah,_ I think I'm a _little_ more fucking dependable than the demon who you've all done absolutely _nothing_ for."

Of course, in the heat of the fight, Sam couldn't resist getting in one final shot. "Yeah, Dean, _by the way,_ how _was_ hell? Because it seems like there's a lot you're not telling me about how Adeliza even came along."

Silence.

Even Adeliza could sense that that was a low blow. Hell wasn't something you could just _brush off,_ especially for first-timers. Every single moment Adeliza spent being tortured, every single jolt of pain, it was _all_ up there in Adeliza's head, crammed into this one corner of her mind that she tried not to pay attention to. Hell was an _itch_ and the moment you scratch it, it all comes rushing back.

That was how the rest of the journey went. Apart from returning to the bomb shelter for a change of clothes, she spent most of her time in the pub with Dean — the Winchester whom she found surprisingly easier to depend on than the one she _thought_ she spent three months helping. But _no,_ apparently all of that was for nothing, apparently Lilith's bounty on her was for nothing, apparently _none_ of that mattered because Sam fucked Ruby, so Ruby was helpful.

* * *

Adeliza stayed in the Impala as Sam and Dean headed to the ward for more information. Frankly, she didn't look like an FBI agent nor did she act like one. But when the brothers did return, they had plenty of information. Anna Milton was diagnosed with Schizophrenia, but in actuality, she inexplicably had the ability to both see demons and could somehow know that Lucifer's arrival on earth was coming soon to theatres near you.

They went to Anna Milton's house, and this time Adeliza did accompany them. Dean knocked on the door and after no answer, they decided to just let themselves in.

"We just wanted to ask you a couple of questions," Sam was saying but stopped — there on the floor were Mr. and Mrs. Milton, their throats slit. He crouched down and sniffed what Adeliza could already smell: sulfur. "The demons beat us here," he said, as though it wasn't already obvious. "Whatever's the deal with this Anna girl..."

"Yeah, they want her. They're not screwing around," Dead muttered, as Adeliza stared at the pictures lining the dresser. "All right, so I'm 'Girl Interrupted' and I know the score of the apocalypse, just busted out of the nut-box... possibly using superpowers, by the way... where do I go?"

Adeliza picked up a framed photo of Anna standing with her family outside a chapel. Looking around, there were plenty of pictures with the same setting. There was a connection— she could feel it. She walked over to Dean and without warning she pulled the sketchbook out of his coat, meriting a look of bewilderment but otherwise no protest, and she flipped through the pages. By now both brothers were peering over her shoulder.

"There it is," she declared, pointing at the sketches of a particular church window. "Think about it. Where's the one place you think would keep you safe from demons?"

They were silent. Sam left to start the Impala, but Dean lingered. "Good work," he muttered, then left abruptly. Adeliza stared after him.

"Don't show _too_ much emotion, now," she said to the open air sarcastically, but still smirked as she zapped into the back seat of the Impala.

Outside the church, Adeliza was told to remain in the car, but she wasn't having that. She'd argued that if it was a trap, and if there _were_ demons inside, they'd be dead. And if this Anna girl was smart enough to escape a mental hospital, she was smart enough to understand that Adeliza wasn't there to hurt her.

The Winchesters entered the church first, Sam with his gun drawn and Dean with the inscribed knife. It took some kind of trust not to stand on the other side of the room while he was holding a knife that could easily kill her, but somehow she managed it.

Anna, it seemed, while smart enough to escape a nut house, was _not_ smart enough to successfully hide from them. Adeliza could see her from way across the room, looking in through a stained glass window.

Sam put his gun in his back pocket. "Anna? We're not gonna hurt you. We're here to help. My name is Sam, this is my brother Dean."

"Sam?" a small voice came, "not Sam Winchester?"

"Uh, yeah," Sam replied, sharing a confused look with the other two.

At this, Anna left her hiding spot and stood in front of them, her eyes wide. "And you're Dean. _The_ Dean?"

 _That_ certainly boosted his ego. "Well, yeah. _The_ Dean, I guess."

"Gee, don't get _too_ insecure," Adeliza muttered.

Anna looked at her once and screamed, jumping back against the wall. "Sam, Dean, get away! It's a demon!"

"Hey, hey, it's okay— this is Adeliza. She's here to help," Sam said soothingly, and Adeliza rolled her eyes. _Oh, so_ now _I'm here to help and not a potential traitor? Fuck you too, Sam._

"Wait, _the_ Adeliza?"

"Damn, you're right," Adeliza remarked, looking at Dean, "The extra article does wonders for the ego."

Anna kept from looking at her and instead chose to fixate on Dean. "The angels talk about you... You were in hell, but Castiel pulled you out, and some of them think you can help save us." she glanced at Sam. "And some of them don't like you at all. They talk about you all the time lately. I feel like I know you."

"Wait, rewind, how am I _the_ Adeliza? Am I on some fucking angel radar? Do you gossip with them or something?"

Anna shook her head fiercely. "No, no, no way. I just kind of... overhear them. And it's not all angels talking about you, it's just one, but she's _really_ loud."

 _She? Loud? Angel?_

Fucking Alma.

"You overhear them?" Sam repeated.

"Yeah, they talk, and sometimes I just... hear them in my head," Anna said.

Dean looked around as though angels were there listening. "Like... right now?"

"Not right this second, but a lot. And I can't shut them out, there are so many of them."

"So, they lock you up with a case of the crazies when really you were just, tuning into angel radio?"

The tormented girl looked so relieved that somebody believed her. "Yes, _thank you."_

"Anna, when did the voices start? Do you remember?"

"I can tell you exactly," Anna said quickly, "September 18th."

"The day I got out of hell," Dean remarked.

"First words I heard, clear as a bell. _Dean Winchester is saved."_

"What do you think?" Dean asked Sam.

"It's above my pay grade, man," he scoffed.

Unsatisfied with that answer, he turned towards Adeliza. She shrugged, "I've heard of weirder things. Give me a few hours to slip under the radar and I can tune into my own radio station. But hey, at least we know why the demons are after her. It's for the same reason they want me."

"What do you mean?" Anna asked timidly, evidently not comfortable with being in the same room as a demon.

Adeliza smiled grimly, "Think about it. Two sides at war and one person comes along with the ability to hear _everything_ the other side is saying. The demons know I can hear them, so they want me gone. They find out you can hear the angels, so they want you with them alive _,_ at least before the angels get to you."

"Wait, you're not saying—" Dean began, but the door slammed open and Ruby came rushing in.

"You got the girl? Good, let's go!" Ruby ordered.

"Oh! Her face!"

"It's okay, she's here to help," Sam repeated.

"Don't be so sure," Dean rolled his eyes.

Ruby glared at him. "We have to hurry," she commanded.

"Why?" Dean asked.

"Because a demon's coming— big-timer. We can fight later, Dean."

"Well, that's pretty convenient. Showing up right when we find the girl, with some bigwig on your tail?" Dean snapped, which Adeliza had to agree with. It was suspicious enough with _one_ demon in the area but two? The demons _had_ to have picked up on that.

"I didn't bring him here, _you_ did," Ruby retorted, which Adeliza found hard to believe.

"What?"

"He followed you from the girl's house. We gotta go _now._ "

 _Ah. I stand corrected._

"Dean," Sam said quietly, and he pointed to a statue of Saint Mary. Blood was trickling from her eyes and an all too familiar feeling swept over Adeliza— fear. Something familiar was coming, something she had faced before, but this time it was something more powerful than before.

"It's too late," Ruby said, looking around, "He's here."

They had seconds to prepare. Sam led Anna to a hiding place, while Dean took a closer look at the statue, still trickling blood from the eyes. He came back with a flask in his hand but Ruby shook her head. "No Sam, you've got to pull him _right_ away."

"Hold on a sec—" Dean began.

"Now's _not_ the time to bellyache about Sam going dark side. He does this thing, he exorcises that demon, or we _die."_

Sam looked like he didn't want to, but he stowed the flask away in his jacket and stood facing the door. Blood pounded in Adeliza's ears, sensing that shit was about to go down and as the door slammed open, she knew that she was right.

Sam raised his hand to exorcise him but he was stronger than before. Alistair's eyes only rolled up into the back of his head, and he coughed before chuckling. _How_ had he managed to gain so much power in such little time? Adeliza was able to bite his fucking _tongue_ off.

"That tickles," Alistair sang, "You don't have the juice to take me on Sam."

Raising a hand, he sent Sam flying forwards and down the stairs, and at the same time, he made Adeliza stuck in place, frozen. Dean lunged forwards with the knife and Alistair caught him by the forearms. "Hello again, Dean," he growled, pushing him against the wall. He punched him once, twice, until his face was bloodied. "Come on, Dean, don't you recognize me? Oh, I forgot: I'm wearing a pediatrician... but we were so close... in hell."

"Alistair," Dean spit out, and from behind him Sam managed to get him with the knife— but it didn't work, just sent sparks shooting into his shoulder.

"You're going to have to try a whole lot harder than that, son," he taunted.

A deep rage grew in Adeliza's stomach— a fury so potent that it shook the windows, and Adeliza broke free of whatever Alistair used to hold her there. And she _growled,_ a deep, guttural sound that came from the monster she was, and as Sam went to help Dean, it was just him and her circling each other.

In the corner of her eye, she could see the brothers leap through the window to escape, but that was just _background noise._ She was a predator and Alistair, no matter how powerful he was, he was about to become her fucking _prey._

"Here we are once again," Alistair smirked, "I gotta say, Addy, our last meeting kind of hurt my feelings! We have such _history,_ down there, in the toybox, your body against mine... Too bad Winchester left so soon."

Adeliza couldn't make coherent words; she was practically foaming from the mouth — she _was_ foaming at the mouth— a black liquid dripped from the corner of her mouth and her eyes turned from a black to a blazing, flickering fire and she _roared._ Waves of sound sent Alistair back a few steps and as Adeliza took a step towards certain death, he shook his head.

"Not today, Addy," he said, talking down to her as if she were a dog.

She ignored him, took another step forward. Smoke leaked out from under her fingertips and flames began to peak out.

"I would love a fight doll, I really would, but I'm on a mission. I'll give you one more chance," Alistair cocked his head to the side. _"Leave."_

She was entirely intending on not listening to him; the black liquid kept leaking out and her eyes were still alight—but as she took another step toward him, she suddenly found herself in the bathroom of a motel. Instinctively she threw her arm out and pinned the perpetrator to the wall— Raum let out a shout and thrashed around under her hold, feeling the fire leave burns around his throat.

"Fuck— Adeliza, _cut it out!"_

She hesitated. _Raum?_ When the fuck did he show up?

He took this pause as a chance to pry her hands off his throat. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?! You go missing for three days and when I finally find you, you're having a face-off with a demon-on-steroids?!"

"I could've handled it!" Adeliza hissed, feeling her eyes return to their normal color. She rummaged through her purse and pulled out what she was looking for — a bottle of vodka. Taking a drink and setting it down on the dresser, she turned to face Raum. "You're just clingy."

Before Raum could retort, there was a pounding on the door.

 _"Adeliza?"_

It was Sam.

"You brought me to the same motel as them?" she asked incredulously. Not waiting for a response, she strode to the door and opened it wide. There were both Winchesters, bloodied and looking like absolute shit. They let themselves in and Dean immediately crossed over to the bathroom and spat blood into the sink.

Raum looked just as surprised as she was. "I just brought us to some random hotel. What are the odds?"

"Eerily not in our favor," Adeliza muttered. Feeling drained, she sunk down to the couch and tried to wipe away the crusted black liquid, but she didn't have much luck.

Sam glanced at Raum as he rummaged for supplies to help him stitch up his numerous cuts. "Adeliza, who is this?"

"My friend and bodyguard," Adeliza said. "Raum. Raum, this is Sam Winchester."

"Another demon?" Dean groaned from the bathroom. Cue more hacking blood into the sink.

"Hey, I just saved her ass from Alistair," Raum defended as Dean grabbed Adeliza's bottle of vodka.

"Yeah, cool shit. Sam, you almost done there?"

"I'm going as fast as I can," Sam hissed, pushing the hook through his skin.

"I kinda got a dislocated shoulder over here."

Dean looked at Adeliza, who shook her head. "Nope, don't know how to. Raum?"

"I went to medical school," her demon friend shrugged. Dean was either too tired to care or in too much pain, but he didn't protest as Raum pushed his shoulder into place.

Sam spotted the vodka in Dean's hand. "Give me that," he said, and once he had it he poured it over his wound.

"So, you lost the magic knife," Dean attempted to say in a casual tone, but it ended up sounding more accusatory and hostile. Adeliza rolled her eyes; these boys sure had no problem fighting in the room with two demons.

"Yeah, saving _your_ ass," Sam snapped. "Who the hell _was_ that demon?"

Raum and Adeliza both let out a string of curse-words to describe him, but Dean cut across them. "No one good," he said curtly, then promptly changed the subject. "We got to find Anna."

"Ruby's got her. I'm sure she's okay."

Again, the Demon Duo blessed the Winchester Brothers with an in-sync laugh, and again, Dean ignored them. "You sure about Ruby? 'Cause I think it's just as likely she used us to _find_ radio girl and then brought that demon in to kill us."

"No, she took Anna to keep her safe," Sam said, sounding completely done with this conversation.

"Yeah, well, why hasn't she called to tell us where she is?"

"Because that demon is probably watching us right now, waiting to follow us right back to Anna again. That's why he let us go," Sam snapped.

Dean chuckled bitterly. "You call this letting us go?"

"Yeah, I do. Look, killing us would've been no problem to that thing. That's why, for now, we just got to lay low and wait for Ruby to contact us."

"Yeah, and how's she gonna do that?"

Sam didn't answer.

Raum sat down next to Adeliza on the couch, who promptly laid down and used him as her footrest. He rolled his eyes but didn't protest— good thing he didn't, because Adeliza was pretty sure that in the current mood she was in, she'd just kick him in his gems.

"Why do you trust her so much?" Dean asked, genuinely curious.

Sam sighed. "I _told_ you."

"You gotta do better than that. Hey, and I'm not trying to pick a fight here— I mean, I really want to understand. But I need to know more. I deserve to know _more."_

"Because," Sam began, looking to the side. "She saved my life."

The sob-story Sam proceeded to get into was old news; he was ambushed, Ruby decided to use him as an escape plan (which Adeliza didn't really count as _saving his life,_ by the way) and in _Sam's_ sob-story, he told them _Ruby's_ sob-story, which was basically a cheap-copy of Adeliza's. She thought _her_ sessions with Lilith were bad? Try being Lilith's second in command, turning your back on her and then going _back_ to face the consequences. There wasn't a torture method in history that Lilith didn't try on her. 'I'm a fugitive for _you,_ Sam,' she said, yet here was Adeliza pulling a full-blown war for _hell._

Adeliza had to give her props, though, for snatching a girl a second away from death. She could give credit where credit was due.

"My favorite part," Adeliza whispered to Raum, as Sam began to paint a beautiful picture of how he —in simpler terms— fucked a demon.

By the time he was done, Dean looked thoroughly horrified. "Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Too much information."

"Hey, I told you I was coming clean," Sam shrugged.

"Yeah, but now I feel dirty," Dean brought his beer to his lips, "Okay, well, uh, brain-stabbing imagery aside... so far, all you've told me about is a manipulative bitch who, uh, screwed you, played mind games with you, and did everything in the book to get you to go bad."

"THANK YOU!" Adeliza shouted exasperatedly. "SOMEONE GETS IT!"

Sam shot her a look. "Yeah, well, there's more to the story."

"Just... skip the nudity, please..."

"No, please don't," Raum whispered, and Adeliza snorted quietly.

"Pretty soon after that, I put together some signs. Omens."

"Saying what?"

"Lilith was in town," Sam said. Dean looked at his brother in disbelief. "And I wanted to strike her first."

Adeliza was there for the next portion of his story. She returned with groceries, only to find out that he'd left on some suicide mission to go find Lilith. She and Ruby stormed into the place guns blazing— Sam took the girl, ran, while she and Ruby were left behind to clean up his mess. Adeliza had been preoccupied with her own _three_ demons while Ruby had been pinned against the wall by another; Adeliza had just finished off her last one when Sam burst in like the hero he was, exorcised the demon with his mind, and he and Ruby ran off into the sunset happily.

"Whatever you have to say, she saved me," Sam said as he finished his story. "More than that— she got through to me. What she said to me... it's what _you_ would've said. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be here."

Nobody spoke for a few seconds after that. Dean was mulling it over, Raum was entertained, and Adeliza was annoyed: and then there was a knocking on the door.

"Housekeeping!"

"Not now," Dean barked.

"Rude," Raum pointed out, and he shoved Adeliza's legs off of him as he crossed over to answer the door. The woman pushed Raum aside instantly and closed the door behind her, drew the curtains shut, and turned to face everyone.

"I'm at this address," apparently _Ruby_ said, handing Sam a note.

"I'm sorry, what?" Sam smiled awkwardly.

"Ruby. She's at that address," Adeliza said as though it was obvious, and she assumed it was.

" _Thank you,"_ Ruby said. "Go through the bathroom window, don't stop, don't take your car, don't pass go. There are demons in the hallway and in the parking lot."

 _"Ruby?"_ Sam repeated.

"Okay, yes, I'm possessing this maid for a hot minute. Sue me."

"What about—"

"Coma girl? Slowly rotting on the floor back at the cabin with Anna, so I've got to hurry back. See you when you get there. Go!"

Both the remaining demons and humans shared the same bewildered look.

"Well, I'm sold," Raum shrugged. He led the way to the bathroom, and nobody had enough time to protest.

* * *

"Glad you could make it."

Ruby opened the door for them and the four crammed into the cabin. Surprisingly, Anna didn't jump at the sight of _Raum's_ face, but Adeliza brushed that off as her getting used to the sight of demons.

"Anna, are you okay?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. I think so. Ruby's not like other demons. She saved my life," Anna smiled.

Cue the annoyed looks between Adeliza and Raum.

"Yeah, I hear she does that," Dean smiled tightly. He turned to face Ruby and it looked like he had to force himself to say these next words. "I guess I..." he cleared his throat, "you know..."

"What?" Ruby asked innocently.

"I guess I owe you for... Sam. And I just want to, you know?"

"Don't strain yourself," she said flatly.

Dean sighed in relief. "Okay then, is the moment over? Good, 'cause that was awkward."

Adeliza snickered, drawing the room's attention. "Just for the record, I make no apologies. I'm the best demon in the room."

"Uh, first of all, _wrong,_ " Raum protested.

"Okay, who the hell is this guy?" Dean asked finally. He was looking at Raum with a mixture of uneasiness and distrust. "Raum, you said?"

"He's a friend, and he's helping me wage a war against Hell."

Three jaws dropped at once. Sam, Dean, and Ruby all looked completely dumbfounded, leaving Adeliza and Raum with shit-eating grins.

But before they could question her absolutely ridiculous statement, Anna had a question. "Hey, Sam, do you think it'd be safe enough to give my parents a quick call? They must be totally freaking out."

The three who were present at her house all exchanged awkward glances. "Uh, Anna..." Sam trailed off and sat down beside her.

"What?" she asked nervously.

"Anna... your parents, they, uh..." Anna's bottom lip started to tremble. "Look, I'm sorry."

"No, they're not—" Anna's voice broke off at the end.

"Anna, I'm sorry—"

Anna hunched over and let out a strangled sob, burying her face in her hands. Adeliza felt extremely awkward in that moment and even more so when Raum shoved her towards Anna, to which the redhead immediately wrapped her arms around. She shot Raum an immediate _what the fuck is wrong with you_ face.

 _ **You were a mother, weren't you? What would you do?**_ Raum's voice asked in her head.

Envisioning Leo, Adeliza's demon instincts to get away were immediately covered by her maternal ones. She vaguely panicked, wondering what the _fuck_ was making her act so human lately, but her arms were already wrapped around the redhead and without thinking she began whispering soothing Spanish words.

"Why is this happening to me?" Anna sobbed.

Raum had taken Sam's place next to Anna, and he lay a comforting hand on her back. "We don't know, but we're going to find out."

Suddenly Anna jolted upwards, gasping. "They're coming," she whimpered.

Electricity buzzed and Sam led Anna to the back room, but her hand was wrapped around Adeliza's arm, so the demon was forced to follow them. "Backroom," Sam ordered and Ruby and Raum stayed behind to barricade the door.

"Listen, Anna, I have to go help out there. You're okay in here on your own, aren't you?" Adeliza asked, desperately needing to get away from the emotions.

"No!"

"Here, take this knife— I gotta go."

And with that, she ran out of the room and stood guard against the door.

"Great. Just peachy. Impeccable timing, guys, _really!_ "

Well, Ruby definitely found out about the knife.

Adeliza flanked Sam's other side, her eyes black and regaining her readied stance once more she looked threatening, but _Raum_ looked deadly. He was as tall as Sam was, maybe even a hair taller, and he made Adeliza look like a dwarf compared to him. They stood back to back, ready for whatever the hell was coming.

Between the two of them, they had a pretty good chance at survival.

The door burst open; it made the brothers flinch, but there was nothing on the other side. _Yet._ A blast of cold air hit them, making Adeliza shut her eyes, but when she opened them she saw Castiel storm into the cabin, along with—

 _Fucking Uriel._

Ruby's eyes turned black at the sight of them, but Adeliza, on the other hand, turned hers to normal. As long as Dean was friends with Castiel, she had nothing to worry about.

"Please tell me you're here to help," Dean said tiredly, "We've been having demon issues all day."

"I can see that." Uriel looked from Ruby, to Adeliza, then to Raum. "You want to explain why you have these _stains_ in the room?"

Adeliza cussed at him in Spanish, and Raum clamped his hand over her mouth.

"We're here for Anna," Castiel stated.

Dean narrowed his eyes at him. "Here for her like... _here_ for her?"

"Stop talking," Uriel snapped. "Give her to us."

This time, Adeliza's string of curse words were muffled.

"Are you gonna help her?" Sam asked.

"No. She has to die."

This time, Raum _let_ her cuss him out.


	14. Angels and Demons

Adeliza had to resist the urge to say the _I told you so_ that was at the tip of her tongue; she had _tried_ to explain that if the angels found out about their little eavesdropper, they would be the _opposite_ of pleased, but does anyone listen to the demon? _Noooo,_ the Winchesters just want to go along with whatever half-assed plan they think they can accomplish!

"You fucking two-centimeter dicks! Why the fuck do you assholes always have to ruin _everything_ you touch?!"

Uriel made a growling sound from the back of his throat, and he started towards her. Multiple things happened at once: Raum pushed Adeliza behind him, Castiel whispered something to Uriel, and the Winchesters immediately began arguing with Castiel.

"Why do you want Anna?" Sam asked the harassed-looking Castiel.

"Out of the way," commanded a hardly-subdued Uriel.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa— okay, I know she's wiretapping your angel chats or whatever, but it's no reason to _gank_ her." Dean was smiling as he said this, whether it was in disbelief or anger Adeliza couldn't tell. But she _could_ tell that Raum was one hundred percent unimpressed with her picking fights with Uriel, but she couldn't _help_ it. Every time she looked at that smug son of a bitch she wanted nothing more than to slap him upside the head. With a meat cleaver. Fifteen times.

"Don't worry," Uriel mocked, "I'll kill her _gentle."_

Adeliza opened her mouth—

 _ **If you say whatever I know you're planning to say, I will drag you back to the bomb shelter.**_

"Touchy, touchy," Adeliza muttered to Raum. This caught the attention of only Castiel, who stared at her in confusion. She shrugged in response and turned her attention back to Dean.

"You're some heartless sons of bitches, you know that?" Dean snapped.

"As a matter of fact, we are. And?" Castiel asked. Adeliza could tell that he was trying to remain aloof, but she could _see_ the guilt eating away at him. Somehow, she couldn't find it in her to feel bad for him.

" _And_ Anna's an innocent girl," Sam said incredulously.

"She is _far_ from innocent." Castiel shook his head slightly. But his words seemed scripted, somehow. Like he didn't believe in the words that were coming out of his mouth.

 _ **When did you become a philosopher?**_

"When did _you_ start poking at my thoughts?" Adeliza whispered back harshly. Again, Castiel glanced at her. She shot him an innocent grin, to which the angel looked even more confused by. She had to resist the urge to laugh; for one, that would be inappropriate given the circumstances, and for another, she was pretty sure that Uriel would smite her.

"She's not innocent? What's that supposed to mean?" Sam scoffed.

"It _means_ she's worse than this abomination you've been screwing. Now give us the girl."

"Oh, shit, shots fired," Raum murmured, loud enough for only Adeliza to hear. Her lips twitched upwards, threatening to break into a smile.

"Sorry," Dean gave each of the angels a shit-eating grin, "Get yourself another one. Try JDate."

"Who's going to stop us?" Uriel scoffed, "You two? This demon whore?"

Uriel grabbed Ruby and threw her against the wall. The window shattered and Uriel grabbed her by the scruff of her jacket, held his hand out to exorcise her, when Dean grabbed the butt of his shotgun and made to hit the back of Uriel's head. He dropped Ruby and spun around, grabbed Dean and starting punching him.

Castiel made for Sam and ignored his pleading. He put two fingers to his forehead and Sam immediately slumped to the ground, unconscious.

"I've been waiting for this," Uriel said in a gravelly voice. He raised his hand, poised to hit Dean, but Raum tackled him to the ground with a strength Uriel obviously wasn't expecting. However, this was merely a distraction— the angel and demon squared off and between both of their strengths, the battle was a stalemate; Uriel was stronger, but Raum wasn't affected by the pain.

As Castiel made for the door, Adeliza stood in front of him, blocking his way. He glowered at her with disdain clear in his eyes. _Someone_ obviously remembered how she, in less poetic terms, kicked his ass. "Sorry," she smirked, "That's _no bueno,_ buddy."

"We're under orders to not kill you, Demon, but I _will_ use force."

"Oh, in that case, I'll step right aside," Adeliza said mockingly, and she _did_ step to the side. "Help yourself," she said, gesturing to the door.

She'd planned to tackle him when he touched the door handle, but that plan didn't matter anymore. The moment his hand wrapped around it, a bright blue light filled the room and by the time it faded, the angels were gone.

A bit pissed that she didn't get to act on her joke, Adeliza turned back to assess the damage. Sam was still laying on the floor unconscious, while Dean was struggling to get up with his lip dripping blood. Raum looked like an absolute _shit fest._ His eye was swelling and his shoulder was at an awkward angle, while his lip was split in half. Ruby had a few scratches but looked more traumatized than anything, and there Adeliza was, unscathed and perfectly tidied.

"I've never been more attracted to you, babycakes," Adeliza said sarcastically.

Raum pulled a face at the nickname and flipped her off. "Just fix my shoulder, will you?"

"I don't know how," she shrugged.

"Jesus Christ, all you have to do is shove it in place. Grab my shoulder blade," he ordered, and Adeliza begrudgingly obeyed. "Now shove it forwards— _hard._ "

She did so and heard a sickening _crack_ and then a _pop,_ and Raum let out a shout of pain. Adeliza grinned, "I did it!"

"Yeah, I'll send you a letter of congratulations," Raum said sourly, massaging his throbbing shoulder. "If you think this is bad, you should've seen the other guy."

While Dean was helping Ruby up, the two other demons opted to check on Anna. They entered the room to see a gruesome scene; Anna's arm was dripping and on the mirror, there was a symbol drawn in blood. Raum tore off the bottom of Adeliza's shirt, meriting a hit, and tied it around the redhead's wound.

"Oh don't act like you've never shown your stomach before," Raum snapped, "I've seen you walk around the White House in a _bra."_

Adeliza opened her mouth to argue then realized that Raum was right. "How'd you know this would send them away?" Adeliza asked Anna, changing the subject.

"It just... popped into my head. I don't know how I did it. I just did it."

A few minutes later, Raum and Ruby were keeping Anna company and dressing her wound while Adeliza decided to intrude on a Winchester Family meeting. They didn't bother telling her to leave; it wasn't like anything was _exclusive_ when you were in a tiny cabin with three demons.

"So, what do you think?" Dean asked, glancing over at Anna.

"I think Anna's getting more interesting by the second," Sam said.

"Yeah, I agree. And what did they mean by _she's not innocent?_ "

"It seems like they want her bad, and not just 'cause of the angel radio thing. I mean, that blood spell — some serious crap, man."

Dean shook his head. "Something's going on with her. See what you can find out."

"What are you gonna do?" Sam asked.

"Anna may have sent the angels to the outfield, but, sooner or later, they're gonna be back. We got to get ourselves safe _now._ I'll drive ahead to Bobby's, make sure it's all clear there."

"I'm coming with," Adeliza said immediately, and Dean gave her a confused look.

"Why? Don't you want to stay here, all buddy-buddy with Ramen Noodles over there?"

Raum glanced up and shot Dean an annoyed look. "Thanks, Winchester, now she'll be calling me that for the rest of my unholy existence." He glared at Adeliza, but she only responded with an evil smile.

"As much as I _crave_ Raumy's presence," Adeliza began sarcastically, "I'm going to gut someone if I'm in this cabin for a second longer."

* * *

"Iron walls drenched in salt," Dean said, rapping his fingers against the iron wall, "Demons can't even _touch_ the joint."

"Which I find racist, by the way."

Ruby, Adeliza, and Raum all stood right outside the panic room, their arms crossed and matching unimpressed expressions.

"Write your congressman," Dean shrugged.

Ruby threw Dean two small sacks. "Here."

"Hex bags?"

"Extra-crunchy. They'll hide us from angels, demons, all comers."

"Thanks, Ruby," Dean said, but the way he said it made it seem like he was thanking her for just more than the hex bags. Adeliza and Raum exchanged displeased looks. Were they the _only_ ones aboard the anti-Ruby boat? "So, Anna, what's playing on angel radio? Anything news for us?"

"It's quiet. Dead silence," Anna said, sounding concerned.

"Good. That's not troubling at all," Dean pursed his lips in a concerned way before turning to face Adeliza. "Anything on Hell's station?"

"Give me a second."

Adeliza closed her eyes, and the moment she tuned in, all the buzzing chatter was silenced. She cursed; they knew when she was there.

"I'm taking that as bad news," Dean muttered, displeased.

Anna frowned and looked at the ground. "We're in trouble, huh? You guys are scared?"

Dean looked at the three demons standing guard outside the bunker. There was Ruby, who saved Sam's life more times than he could ever know, who despite their mutual detesting of each other could agree on the importance of his brother's life. Then there was Raum. He was the newest and Dean obviously didn't trust him but the way he stood in front of Adeliza, followed her commands with no question and the way he _looked_ at her just screamed that he was without a doubt, while maybe not on his side, _her_ side. Finally, there was the demon of the hour herself, Adeliza.

From the beginning, it seemed, there was a mutual understanding of one another, even if he hadn't understood it at the time. He wanted his brother back. She wanted her son back. She gave Dean a _year_ when he didn't deserve more than a _minute_ and then when she faced the consequences, he made sure to let the Hellfire loose the first chance he got. Back then, he had it all planned out. Dean would set her free, gain five debts in return and when she eventually came back to return the favor instead of giving him _five_ , they would be square. Except Castiel saved him and screwed up his entire escape plan.

To come back and discover that his brother had been bunking with Adeliza had been an understatement, to say the least. And somehow, she'd stuck around since then — like a weird fungus, but the way Adeliza had stared Alistair down made Dean trust her. Maybe he was being stupid, but these things were the reason why he could say his next words with such certainty.

"Nah," he smiled. "I'm not scared."

 _"Hey, Dean!"_ Sam's muffled voice called from upstairs.

Dean shuffled past the demons and leaned in. "Keep an eye on her," he said quietly, then retreated upstairs.

Adeliza took one long look at Ruby, who glared at her in return. Needless to say, she decided that she was _not_ included in that particular order. "Yeah, Raum, keep an eye on her." She patted the man on the shoulder. "I have full faith in you."

Raum shot her a dry look. "You're what gives me strength to continue on, Adeliza," he said in a monotone.

She winked at him as she climbed the staircase after Dean. "Don't miss me _too_ much."

Dean didn't question her as she followed him to the kitchen, where Sam was waiting. Adeliza figured he wouldn't; it looked like he was learning that she did as she pleased and to fight her on that would only end in a headache.

"How's the car?" Dean asked at once.

"I got her; she's fine." Sam looked around the deserted household with a puzzled look. "Where's Bobby?"

"The Dominican. He said we break anything, we buy it."

There was an immediate crash and then a yelp of pain. The brothers spun around to see Adeliza hunched over and coughing for dear life, a glass shattered across the floor and water rushing into a puddle at her feet. The demon leapt onto the counter and coughed for dear life. "This motherfucker has fucking _holy water_ coming out of his sink?!"

Sam snickered to himself while Dean rolled his eyes. "You realize we're _paying_ for that, right?"

"You're paying for my fucking medical bills if your uncle's tap water destroyed my stomach lining," Adeliza hissed.

It was amusing, to say the least, seeing the powerful pyrokinetic demon crouched on the counter like a cat, but Dean had to get them back on track, unfortunately. "What'd you find on Anna?"

Sam sighed as he opened up a file, "Not much. Her parents were rich and Amy Milton— a church deacon and a housewife. But there is something here in the report. Turns out this latest psych episode wasn't her first. When she was two and a half, she'd get hysterical any time her dad got close. She was convinced that he wasn't her real daddy."

"Who was? The plumber, hmm? A little snaking the pipes?" Dean snickered, and Adeliza let out a pained wheeze of laughter from behind him.

"Dude, you're confusing reality with porn again," Sam smirked at the glare his brother gave him and continued on before he could retort. "Look, Anna didn't say. She just kept repeating that this real father of hers was mad. Very mad— like wanted-to-kill-her mad."

Dean frowned. "Kind of heavy for a two-year-old."

"Well, she saw a kid's shrink, got better, and grew up normal," Sam shrugged.

"Until now. So what's she hiding?"

"Why don't you just ask me to my face?" An angry voice sounded from the stairwell and the brothers turned to see Ruby, Raum, and Anna standing there. The redhead in question had her arms crossed across her chest and she was staring at Dean with unhidden anger in her eyes.

"Nice job watching her," Dean scoffed.

"I'm watching her," Ruby shrugged and looked at Anna again to prove her point.

Raum, however, was staring at his leader who was currently crouched on a countertop surrounded by a moat of what appeared to be holy water. "Nice job watching _her,_ " he retorted and Dean shrugged, mirroring Ruby. "How'd you manage that, O' Powerful One?"

"Shut up and get me the hell down from here, you fucking sea urchin," Adeliza hissed. This was a bad day to wear heels and there was no way in hell she was getting her feet burnt by a puddle of water. Screw dignity— holy water fucking _hurt._

As Raum left to retrieve his supposedly powerful, threatening leader, Sam looked back to Anna, who was still seething with anger. "You're right, Anna. Is there anything you want to tell us?"

"About _what?"_ she said in obvious exasperation. Dark, grey circles hung under her cheeks and her skin was pale and sickly. The poor girl looked exhausted, but for all they knew it could be an act. After all, who were they to go against the word of _angels?_

"The angels said you were guilty of something. Why would they say that?"

"You tell _me,"_ she said shakily, "Tell _me_ why my life has been leveled, why my parents are _dead…_ I don't _know_ … I swear. I would give _anything_ to know."

"Okay," Sam said, and he looked like he really believed her. "Let's find out."

For once, Anna began to look hopeful.

"How?"

* * *

With Dean leaving to go get some psychic, Adeliza took the time to text her own for an update. So far the process was slow going. Zella said she didn't know where to start and that since nobody had really manufactured a world map of psychic energies, it was likely that she'd have to make one herself. On her own that'd be hard enough, and given the fact that she couldn't speak, it'd be dangerous too— and Adeliza _really_ couldn't afford to lose the only Limbo specialist she knew about. Lilith aside, the thought of ruling Hell had always been a daydream of hers and it was about time she made a move to make it a reality. Killing Lilith was just an added bonus.

"So you're saying I'll be taking Loony Tunes on a road trip around the _world?_ " Raum asked in disbelief.

Adeliza sighed. "Believe me, I'm fucking pissed about it too. But it's about time we started taking this seriously. Limbo's not going to open itself and if I'm planning to take Hell for the long run, I'm going to need power."

"Yeah, I get that, but by _myself?"_ Raum seemed weirdly upset by this particular detail.

"What, can't you find a friend to replace me?" Adeliza teased, but Raum didn't join in.

He stared at her with a seriousness that Adeliza wasn't used to seeing, especially not on his features. "There's no one who could replace you, Adeliza. Not in a million years."

Her eyes widened at this and for once, Adeliza had no witty comeback or one liner to counter this. Her lips parted in surprise and to save her the confusion of her inability to come up with a response, Raum forced a smirk. "But seriously, if you leave me alone with that psychic, I will gut you."

Sensing that this was her chance to chance the topic, Adeliza seized it with both hands. "I'd like to see you try, Ramen Noodles. You saw how I kicked Castiel's perky ass."

The sounds of footsteps causing the staircase to creak. "We're here," Dean declared and at that, the Demonic Duo joined the others where they stood leaning against the wall.

The woman walking down the stairs with him was quite obviously blind, but the way she carried herself made Adeliza think that she wasn't as helpless as she was making herself seem. Besides, she was wearing a leather jacket that was similar to the one Adeliza was wearing, which made the psychic alright in her book.

"Pamela! Hey," Sam gave her a genuine smile and Pamela moved to stand in front of him. "It's me. It's Sam."

"Sam?"

"Yeah," he smiled nervously as she felt her way up his arms and took his face in her hands.

"Sam, is that you?" The tone in Pamela's voice made Adeliza grin like a wolf. As a fellow huntress of men, she could already tell what was about to happen and by the glare on Ruby's face, she was loving Pamela Barnes more and more by the second.

"Oh," Pamela sighed wistfully. "Know how I can tell?"

She slapped his ass. Hard.

"That perky little ass of yours. You could bounce a nickel off that thing," Pamela laughed and even Sam couldn't help but chuckle, despite his embarrassment. "Of course I know it's you, grumpy. Same way I know that's a demon, and that's a demon, and _that's_ a demon—" she pointed to Ruby, Raum, and Adeliza respectfully, "and It's the same way I know that poor girl's Anna."

Pamela continued, "And by the same way I know you've been eyeing my rack. That goes for you too, short-stuff, and might I add that you look ravishing?"

Adeliza grinned wolfishly. "Oh, you certainly may."

Pamela made sure to brush against her shoulder as she made her way over to Anna, and Adeliza shared a broad grin with Dean. "How you doing, kiddo? I'm Pamela. Dean told me what's going on, and I'm excited to help."

"Oh, that's nice of you," Anna said with a smile.

"Oh, well, not really. Any chance I can dick over an angel, I'm taking it." Pamela's tone turned bitter and she practically _seeped_ revenge. Adeliza was liking this woman more and more by the second.

"Why?"

"They stole something from me." She took off her sunglasses, revealing pure white eyes, the pupils nowhere in sight. Adeliza thought it looked a bit like Lilith, except with much more style. "Demon-y, I know. But they're just plastic. Good for business. Makes me look extra-psychic, don't you think?" The two shared a laugh before Pamela took Anna's hands once more. "Now, how about you tell me what your deal is?"

Pamela slung an arm around Anna's waist and led her to the panic room, and a few minutes later she was working at getting the redhead into a state of hypnosis. In order to do this, however, Adeliza had to stay quiet— and that was hard to do when her legs were aching like a motherfucker and there was no chair in sight. She thought for a moment how childish it'd seem if she sat on the floor, but as she wondered this Raum plopped down himself and Adeliza took this as an opportunity to use him as an pillow. This whole hypnotizing thing was getting a bit tiring, especially since she hadn't rested properly since the show-down with Alistair and then the _angels._

"When we're at zero, you'll be in a deep state of hypnosis," Pamela was saying. "As I could down, we'll just go deeper and deeper, okay? Five… Four… Three… Two… One… Deep sleep… _Deep sleep._ Every muscle calm and relaxed… Can you hear me?"

"I can hear you," Anna whispered, her eyes closed.

"Now, Anna, tell me… How can you hear the angels? How did you work that spell?" Pamela asked in a soothing but clear voice.

"I don't know. I just did."

Pamela pursed her lips while Adeliza and Raum shared a look of deep boredom. "Your father… What's his name?"

"Rich Milton."

"All right, but I want you to look further back… When you were very young… Just a couple of years old."

"I don't want to," Anna mumbled, and her hand twitched.

"It'll be okay. Anna, just one look; that's all we need."

Her head whipped to the side, and Anna let out a whimper. "No."

"What's your dad's name? Your real dad? Why is he angry at you?"

"No… No…" The light above her began to flicker, electricity crackling as her body lurched up into the air. Her back arched — she screamed and the Winchesters leapt into action. "HE'S GONNA KILL ME!"

"Anna you're safe—" Pamela began in an attempt to sooth her but before Adeliza could hear more, the door to the panic room slammed shut.

Adeliza jumped to her feet, but she knew she couldn't do anything. That damned brilliant Bobby Singer made that room impenetrable. From the outside she could hear more screaming— lights shattered, much like they did in the barn and the muffled sounds of the Winchesters yelling set Ruby into overdrive. She placed both her hands on the iron door, then yelled as it burnt her. Then, as suddenly as the screams had started, they vanished.

"Fuck this, I'm going upstairs for some beer. Unless that fucking redneck put holy water in _that_ too," Adeliza scowled, and even if they all didn't get along, the three demons mutually agreed that at this point of the day, they were a hundred percent done with the Winchester's shit.

Adeliza was on her fourth bottle of beer before the Winchesters joined them and filled them in on all the dirty details. Apparently, Anna was a fucking _angel_ of all things and upon hearing this, Ruby's slimy ass was sent into high alert.

"Don't worry, I'm not like the others," Anna promised.

"I don't find that very reassuring," Ruby said stiffly.

"Neither do I," Pamela added.

Anna cast her a hurt glance before pacing back and forth. "So… Castiel, Uriel— they're the ones that came for me?"

"You know them?" Sam asked.

She frowned, looking sorrowful all of a sudden. "We were kinda in the same foxhole."

"So, what, they're like your bosses or something?"

"Try the other way around."

Dean gave her what Adeliza liked to describe as his _sex eyes._ "Look at you," he smirked and in that moment she _knew_ he'd be in her pants by the end of the night.

"So, what, now they want to kill you or something?" Pamela asked disbelievingly.

Anna shrugged. "Orders are orders. I'm sure I have a death sentence on my head… I disobeyed, which, for us, is about the worst thing you can do. I fell."

"Meaning?" Dean blinked. Pamela opted to explain it to him in the simplest form he could understand.

"She fell to earth, became human."

"Wait a minute, I don't understand," Sam began, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "So angels can just become human?"

"It kind of hurts. Try cutting your kidney out with a butter knife. That kind of hurt. I ripped out my grace."

Adeliza smirked. "Ooh, kinky."

"It's _energy,"_ Anna shot the demon a mildly amused look. "I hacked it out and fell. My mother, Amy, couldn't get pregnant. Always called me her little miracle. She had no idea how right she was," she chuckled.

"So you just, like, forgot that you were god's little power ranger?"

 _ **Again with the fucking metaphors,**_ Raum complained silently and Adeliza rolled her eyes in agreement.

"The older I got, the longer I was human, yeah."

"I don't think you all appreciate how completely _screwed_ we are."

Ah, and there was Ruby's bullshit again. Adeliza sighed, sitting down and opening her fifth bottle of beer.

"Ruby's right," Anna agreed. "Heaven wants me dead."

"Like I fucking warned you guys!" Adeliza interjected, "But no, _fuck Adeliza! She's just saying these things to be funny!_ As I said before, we have _both fucking sides_ coming after us, charging on battle horses."

"For once, I agree with Adeliza," Ruby scoffed. "A flesh-and-blood angel you can question, torture, that _bleeds._ Anna's the god damn stanley cup. And sooner or later, heaven or hell, they're gonna find you."

"I know," Anna sighed. "And that's why I'm gonna get my grace back, if I can find it."

Of course, Dean Winchester never missed a chance to throw in two cents and a few metaphors that literally _nobody else_ would understand. "So, what, you're just gonna take a divine bong hit, and shazam, you're Roma Downey?"

 _ **Take a shot every time one of these Winchesters say a metaphor. You in?**_

"You better fucking know it," Adeliza murmured back.

"I'm liking this plan," Dean smirked, giving her the _sex eyes_ again. "So where'd you lose it?"

"Lost track. I was falling about 10,000 miles per hour at the time."

Sam raised his eyebrows. "Wait. You mean falling, like, literally? Like the way a human eye can see, like a comet or a meteor?"

"Sam Winchester, you beautifully intelligent person!" Adeliza cried out, jumping off the dresser. She stumbled, almost falling but Raum rolled his eyes as he held out an arm to steady her. "Finally, some fucking progress! Get researching bitches, _fuck yeah!"_

* * *

Although Adeliza was more than ready to research, she found it hard to focus her eyes on any words. It turns out, a full six pack of beer in under an hour _does_ affect demons, and the task of babysitting the supposedly terrifying monster was up to Raum and Dean while Ruby and Sam researched.

"You deal with her often?" Dean had to ask, as Adeliza almost fell out of the impala.

Raum once again caught her by her arm, and he turned to give Dean an exasperated look. "All. The. Fucking. Time. Remember when she said she was waging a war on Hell? Yeah, I'm the dick who gets stuck killing all the demons sent to assassinate her."

"Wait, a war? _Why?"_ Dean asked incredulously. He normally didn't trust demons as far as he could throw them, but as weird as it sounded, this Raum guy seemed _different_ to him. Not quite human, but not fully demonic either.

The demon all of a sudden had a prideful look on his face as he gazed over at Adeliza, who was currently downing a pint of vodka. "She's going to take it over. Once Lilith's gone, she'll have the throne and the chaos which I'm sure you've seen will be reformed. Soul deals with stricter guidelines."

"Guidelines?"

"Well, you've seen how fucking cheap the deals can be, I'm sure. The rule _used_ to be that the average time allotted is ten years, no more, no less. The system's corrupt. Even hunters like yourself should get five years at the _least,_ no matter how many fuckers you've killed." Dean raised his eyebrows at this, but Raum continued on, "Crossroads demons are contracting bizarrely and wherever the hell they feel like setting camp at and quite frankly, they're being messy about it too."

Dean couldn't help but chuckle. "You're not telling me there's demon politics? In friggin' _hell?"_

Raum only shrugged. "Believe it or not, we're actually quite a bit like Heaven, except with fewer sticks up our asses and less blind faith. It's a monarch. Whoever has the throne makes the rules, and currently, the only thing Lilith has going for her is fear and Alistair. She's hellbent on killing our Adeliza over there and you Winchesters are making my job _really_ hard by taking her on these adventures of yours."

"Well, sorry for the inconvenience," Dean shrugged, not sounding sore at all. "But we sort of need Hellfire over there to keep the devil dearest locked up in his bedroom."

From the distance, Raum and Dean could hear Adeliza shout, " _Fucking metaphors!"_ before taking another drink.

At this point, Anna had joined the human and demon and Raum wasn't comfortable talking about their demonic plans around an angel, regardless if she claimed to be on their side or not. In fact, Raum didn't feel comfortable around an angel, _period._ He pushed himself off the car and walked away, making no effort to be subtle with his escape.

He weaved in between the cars to find Adeliza a few hundred yards away and a dead body of one of Lilith's lackeys laying beside her scorched to the bone. She herself was slumped down against a car, casually taking a sip of water.

"God, that _reeks._ Did you have to barbeque the bastard?" Raum asked, wrinkling his nose up in disgust.

Adeliza shrugged and pushed herself up off the ground. "Couldn't do much else. There's another one around here, lurking."

"Shall we fetch your pet Winchester?

"I have a feeling he's a bit busy with something. Some _one,_ " she smirked.

"Come on, his brother's right outside," Raum scoffed, but he had the sneaking suspicion that _that_ particular detail wouldn't stop Dean.

"Might as well give him the space to _try,"_ Adeliza replied.

Raum smirked. "Fair enough, I suppose. You think he'll manage it?"

"This is Dean Winchester we're talking about. He could turn a straight man into a swirly straw.

* * *

Car rides were dreadfully boring and even more unenjoyable when there were six people crammed into a four-person car. Adeliza half-sat on Raum and Anna and while neither were complaining, she could _feel_ Raum fighting the urge to make a wise-ass joke. Fortunately, Dean beat him to it.

"An angel and three demons riding in the backseat. It's like the setup to a bad joke… or a _Penthouse Forum_ letter."

Ruby and Anna simultaneously rolled their eyes, while Raum let out a laugh. Dean shot him an approving glance in the rear-view mirror, happy that at least _one_ person appreciated his joke.

"Dude," Sam groaned. "Reality. Porn."

"You call this reality?"

Adeliza snickered. "Well, that was depressing."

"Agreed. You all need to lighten up."

Ruby scoffed. "Coming from the demons with the entirety of hell on their asses. Humor me. How _do_ you manage to stay so _inspiring?"_

"Confidence is key, sweet-cheeks," Raum said. "You tell yourself you're a powerful son of a bitch enough times, it works out in your favor. How do you think short-stack over here's survived so long?"

"Okay, first of all, fuck you. I didn't sell my soul to get called cheap fucking short jokes," Adeliza scowled and the Winchesters started cracking up, and even Anna managed to smile.

They finally arrived at the right place, and greeting them was a beautiful tree; rays of sunlight weaved in between the branches and glittered off the leaves. Approaching the tree, Adeliza couldn't help but feel like she was trespassing on something she was _not_ supposed to step foot in. Of course, this feeling was what kept her going.

"You ready to do this?" Dean asked, not taking his eyes off the tree.

"Not really," Anna admitted. She walked toward it all the same.

"Anna, what are we even looking for?" Sam asked as the redhead placed her hand on the tree. She closed her eyes, giving a hopeful little smile before her eyes opened wide in surprise.

"It doesn't matter. It's not here. Not anymore— someone took it."

* * *

Constantly driving and regrouping was getting to be tiring, and at one point even the Winchesters were too exhausted to go on. They suggested crashing at a motel but that would be too risky— Raum volunteered to take over the wheel and though it took a fucking lifetime to convince Dean to hand the keys over to a _demon,_ his tired state of mind eventually got the best of him and he and Sam swapped places with Adeliza and Raum. Of course, these two beasts of men couldn't fit back there with _both_ Ruby and Anna, so Ruby went the quick way over to the barn where they'd be staying. Eventually, the three in the backseat managed to fall asleep, leaving the car in absolute silence.

"So, where'd you learn to drive?" Adeliza yawned, leaning her head back against the seat.

"A few centuries alone tends to motivate you to try new things." Raum never took his eyes off the road. "Apart from stealing from kings, I went to medical school, into the military, a few different colleges and a bakery."

"Dear Lucifer, _why?"_ Adeliza pulled a face at the thought of _willingly_ going to school. She liked to read, sure, but the thought of spending her time attending colleges instead of causing chaos was dreadfully boring.

Raum shrugged. "It's interesting to see how much humans learn over the years."

The two continued to converse over the remainder of the trip, paying no mind to the people in the backseat. But even though their eyes remained closed, both Winchester brothers were wide awake, taking in the casual conversation between two demons with one thought running through their head:

 _What happens to demons when they begin to act human?_

* * *

"Well, we still got the hex bags, but I say we head back to the panic room."

Dean had been pacing the barn for the past ten minutes, thinking aloud and altogether becoming more and more nervous.

"What, and stay there forever?" Ruby snapped.

Dean glared at her and raised his voice in return, "I'm just thinking out loud!"

"Oh, you call that thinking," she sneered.

"Hey, hey, hey— _stop it,"_ Sam had arrived to play referee while Adeliza sat on a haybale, watching the argument eagerly. Maybe Dean would climb aboard boat Anti-Ruby after all. Admittedly, the demon hadn't been _so_ bad lately, but there was always the thought that she might turn on them. Just as she did all those years ago.

" _It was her!" Ruby shouted, her eyes alight with a malice that the newly turned demon had never anticipated. It couldn't be right— Ruby was her_ ally, _how could she try to_ frame _her like this?!_

" _You lying bitch, I never_ touched _that fucking prisoner!" Adeliza snarled, lunging at her but Alistair easily held her back._

" _Now, now, Addie, no one likes a liar," Lilith clucked her tongue. "So you released your husband. Big deal! See, if you had just come clean I_ might _have let you off with a warning. Alistair, be a dear and show our Adeliza what happens to liars."_

"Anna's grace is gone, you understand?" Ruby was saying — well, more like yelling. "She can't angel up. She can't protect us. We can't fight heaven _and_ hell. One side, maybe, but not both. Not at once—"

"Um, guys? The angels are talking again," Anna interrupted them.

Adeliza perked up at this and leaned in. "Share with the class?"

"It's weird… Like a recording. A loop. It says, _Dean Winchester gives us Anna by midnight, or…"_

Dean's eyes widened slightly. Only slightly. "Or what?"

" _Or we hurl him back to damnation."_

Everyone's eyes were on Anna, but Adeliza was carefully surveying Dean's reaction. As expected, his eyes bugged out of his head; his breathing quickened and it was apparent that he thought that the angels would inevitably cast him back into Hell, but Adeliza would slit their throats before she let the angels touch _her_ pet Winchesters. Part of it was because she was spiteful— here she had some wonderfully trained human hunters, both powerful and dangerous and best of all, _unwilling_ to kill her. How much must it annoy the angels, knowing that the brothers whom they want under their control are instead chumming it up with _demons?_

But another part of her knew that she'd be disappointed if Sam and Dean died. Admittedly, they made her agonizingly long existence a bit more interesting, even if it seemed like she risked her life every time she joined them on their escapades. She supposed she owed Dean enough already— if it wasn't for him, she'd probably still be Lilith's little servant. Maybe stopping the angels from throwing him into Hell would repay at least _that_ part of her debt.

"Anna," Sam began, trying to keep a level head but it was clear that he was panicking too. "Do you know of any weapon that works on an angel?"

"Nothing we could get to… not right now," Anna shook her head.

"Okay, wait, I say we call Bobby, get him back from hedonism—"

Sam cut him off instantly. "What's he gonna tell us that we don't already know?" he snapped.

"I don't know, but we got to think of something!"

"I say that we go on the run," Raum said, and the Winchesters looked like they wanted to kill him for daring to speak. But of course, the centuries old demon was hardly intimidated by a couple of hotheads in flannel. "Let me finish! Not in the literal sense, but lay low, recuperate— scheme. If Castiel and Uriel find us, Adeliza and I know how to hold them off. They can't do anything if they can't find you; yelling and sulking will only waste time, and quite frankly I've had e-fucking-nough of you two bitching at each other."

Nobody said a word. Sam and Dean were stunned into silence.

Adeliza grinned and reached up to sling an arm around his shoulders. "Aren't you glad my bodyguard is here?"

"Everyone's having a lover's session. Personally, I'm feeling a bit left out." Adeliza teasingly winked at Raum, who in return rolled his eyes. They were alone in the barn, sprawled out across the floor and trying their hardest to let the lingering exhaustion leave them. She had heard that demons couldn't sleep, but she couldn't remember _ever_ feeling this tired before.

"Go to sleep, you awful woman," Raum murmured.

It was Adeliza's turn to roll her eyes. "I'm a demon, dipshit. Demons can't… sl—" she yawned quietly and her eyelids fluttered shut, her breathing slowing down dramatically. "Sleep…"

* * *

She was still in the barn. Except she wasn't; the barn was empty. Not just in the literal sense. The colors had dimmed drastically and the scenery was nearing black and white, and vaguely, Adeliza wondered if she was dreaming. _Was_ she dreaming? She couldn't remember. It had been so, so long since she had slept, and being knocked unconscious didn't count, not by a long shot.

Her eyes wandered to a cradle, sitting ominously in the corner, swaying gently. A figure stood by it, and he was whispering something that her ears were unable to pick up on. Feeling her nerves pick up, Adeliza forced herself to approach it.

One step.

Two steps.

Suddenly, she was all the way across the room. The man turned.

He was _bleeding._ Even in the dim light Adeliza could see the deep cuts gushing blood and he was _smiling,_ even as his jaw hung unhinged. The image was burned in her mind for only a second— and then he was beautiful.

" _James?"_

"This is a new look for you, darling," James Clark smiled and Adeliza wasn't sure if she wanted to step closer or turn and run. _Why? Why_ was he here? Why now? And why was he acting like she hadn't _murdered_ him?

His eyes trailed over her outfit. Nothing like her days in London, she was sure— she had on a bralette, a leather jacket, and skin-tight jeans. James wasn't moving, only staring at her with a gentle smile on her face and Adeliza opted to ignore that. This was _her_ dream after all, wasn't it?

She peered inside of the cradle and this time, she smiled, picked up her son and balanced him on her him. He couldn't have been older than two.

"Mummy," he giggled.

Adeliza tilted her head at him. This was _definitely_ a dream. "Hello, Leo. Long time, no see…"

Was that the right way to talk to a baby? She couldn't remember.

He nestled himself into her neck and grabbed a tiny fistful of her hair. Adeliza cautiously placed one of her hands on his back.

"Demons can't dream."

Adeliza whirled around and almost pissed herself. James in her dream, the man she _murdered,_ she could handle— but why the _hell_ was Castiel here?! Admittedly, Castiel looked as confused as she was to be here, except he didn't have to be as pissed about disrupting her dream. Seriously, how many more times would she ever have the chance to _sleep?_

"Yeah, you're telling me," Adeliza replied. James slung his arm around her waist and the demon stiffened, glancing nervously at him. _Not real, not real, not real,_ she told herself but his size and stature and that everlasting _smile_ on his face had her frozen still.

She forced herself to look back at Castiel. It was sort of calming, having the blue-eyed angel there, even if they were technically mortal enemies. "What brings you here? Shouldn't you be tapping into Winchester's head instead?"

"Alma sent me," Castiel admitted "She told me to warn you. Uriel and I are on our way. You are _not_ to resist."

"And I should listen _why?"_ Adeliza scoffed, but the angel was already gone. "Okay. Fine. But if I come back and the human is in hell, consider my target on your back," she mumbled, more so to herself.

There was one surefire way to wake herself up, and although it killed her to do it, she forced herself to look into James's eyes.

His bright blue eyes turned to a solid black. He smirked, tightened his grip, and Adeliza screamed.

* * *

" _Adeliza, wake up!"_

The demon woke up in a cold sweat— it was light outside, and Raum was nowhere in sight although she noticed that she had been moved onto a blanket instead of the plain filthy ground. Dean sat by idley, a flask in his hand while Sam paced back and forth.

"Look who finally decided to wake up," Dean commented. Adeliza only flipped him off and pushed herself off the ground. She felt renewed, like she wasn't running on empty— was this how humans felt after they woke up? Either way, Adeliza was loving it.

"Yeah, yeah, it's not like I haven't slept in _decades_ or something," Adeliza grumbled. "Where's Ramen Noodles?"

"Said he was going to check on some girl. Zella was her name, I think," Sam said. "You know her?"

"Yeah, she's our pet psychic," Adeliza said dismissively. She grabbed a tiny bottle of water out of her purse and brought it up to her lips, glad that the cool night air had chilled it for her. She didn't know how the Winchesters survived drinking beer for every meal of the day— didn't they ever get hungover? "Alright, so then where's Ruby?"

"Heck if I know. She's Sam's hell buddy," Dean shrugged and brought his flask up to his lips.

Adeliza grinned. "Does that make me your hell buddy?" He didn't respond, so Adeliza decided to milk this for all it was worth. "It's alright, Winchester, you're my _earth_ buddy!"

"Put a cork in it—" Dean began, but a gust of wind cut him off. The doors to the barn swung open and Adeliza was hit with an instant feeling of deja vu of her little face-off with Castiel.

Except this time Castiel was accompanied by Uriel, and this time Adeliza was aiming to kill.

The brothers positioned themselves in front of Anna and though she tried to take the lead, Dean held out an arm to keep her back. She scowled at him. What, _now_ he was acting all chivalrous? When he was about to get his ass sent back into hell?

"Hello, Anna. It's good to see you," Castiel said in what was supposed to come out as threatening, but the authenticity in his eyes was clear.

"How?" Sam said disbelievingly, " _How_ did you find us?"

Castiel moved his gaze over to Dean but as Sam began to state his betrayal, Adeliza turned her attention over to the smug little grin on Uriel's face. Her hands twitched, yearning to lunge forward and show him what he _could_ smile about, but as though he sensed this, Castiel sent her a warning look.

" _Why?"_ Sam asked.

Anna, while mildly betrayed, looked understanding for the most part. "Because they gave him a choice. They either kill me, or kill _you._ " Castiel looked to the ground in shame. "I know how their minds work."

Anna glowered at Castiel with unwithheld rage until her features suddenly softened; she turned to face Dean, reached up to give him a soft kiss. Adeliza felt a tug at her suddenly functioning heartstrings— he had gotten himself attached too early; it was clear by the look in his eyes.

"You did the best you could," Anna whispered. "I forgive you."

She stepped around Sam and faced the angels head-on, letting out a shaky breath. "Okay. I'm ready… No more tricks." She gave Adeliza a pointed look, to which the demon sighed, relenting. "No more running. I'm ready."

"I'm sorry," Castiel sighed.

Anna chuckled. "No. You're not. Not really. You don't know the feeling."

"Still. We have a history. It's just—"

"Orders are orders. I know. Just make it quick."

Castiel took a step forwards—

" _Don't you touch a hair on that poor girl's head."_

Fucking Alistair.

Stationed behind him were two other demons and they held up a bleeding Ruby. Adeliza let out a predatory growl under her breath, and it sounded so much like an animal that Castiel cast her a sidelong glance.

"How dare you come into this room…" Uriel began, and the demons threw Ruby to the side. "You pussing sore?" For once, Adeliza was glad to see Uriel acting like a stuck up bitch. She had to admit, when he did it to Alistair it was certainly entertaining.

"Name-calling. That hurt my feelings, you sanctimonious, fanatical prick." Alistair's attention turned to Adeliza. "So, Addie, you finally crawled out of the gutters… You simply _reek_ of humanity."

She smiled in a deranged way, tilting her head to the side. "So many things I want to say… They're just at the _tip of my tongue."_

Alistair's eyes flashed murderously. He strode forward and so did Adeliza, but this time it was Castiel who held out an arm, and she found herself frozen in place. "Turn around and walk away _now."_

Alistair paused in his stride. "Sure. Just give us the girl. We'll make sure she gets punished good and proper. Just to be nice, we'll take that big-mouthed demon over there off your hands too. Sound good?"

"You know who we are and what we will do. I won't say it again. _Leave._ Now. Or we lay you to waste."

"Think I'll take my chances," Alistair sneered.

Uriel made the first move— he rammed the biggest demon into a wooden beam and as another one approached him from behind, he drew back his elbow and sent the other flying across the room. Castiel punched Alistair three times and as it seemed the demon was in pain, he put his hand on his forehead— except nothing happened. Not a hint of blue light.

Castiel's eyes turned wide, and Alistair snickered to himself. "Sorry, kiddo. Why don't you go run to daddy?" With that, he grabbed the angel by the collar and threw him to the ground. " _Potestas Inferna, me confirma. Potestas inferna, me confirma. Potestas inferna—_ "

The Winchesters finally snapped out of it and Dean hit Alistair around the back of the head with a crowbar, causing the demon to let go of Castiel. The angel was weakened, but it didn't matter— Alistair's full attention was on Dean.

"Dean, Dean, Dean… I am _so_ disappointed. You had such promise!" He pointed his hand at him and the brothers' hands flew to their throats— of course, Adeliza simply couldn't allow this. She broke free of whatever Castiel had done to her and tackled that bitch to the ground from behind. Fighting fairly was out of the question— she dug her fingernails into his neck and let the flames flicker out from her fingertips, burning into Alistair's throat. He cried out and easily grabbed her by the arm and slammed her into the ground; he punched her once, twice, three times, twenty, she lost track until he pulled out the knife and stabbed it through her thigh.

Adeliza had seen Sam put that knife to work countless times but seeing the orange light flicker through her veins and _feeling_ it was unimaginable. She writhed on the ground, screaming at the top of her lungs and all she could hear over her screams was Alistair's psychotic laugh as he twisted it around as though he were wood carving.

She squeezed her eyes shut and couldn't process anything— _pain, pain, pain,_ was all her mind was saying, _screaming,_ until Alistair's laughs disappeared and the knife was pulled out of her leg.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!" Adeliza shouted as a hand roughly pulled her to her feet. She had no idea why Castiel was playing guardian angel lately, but she couldn't complain. Lucifer himself could've pulled that knife from her and she would've kissed the ground at his feet.

"Cursing is a sin," was all Castiel said, and although her leg was in excruciating pain, she had to laugh.

" _I'm_ a sin," she snickered, "But, er, thanks. Probably would've cut off my leg there."

Castiel only gave her a slight nod.

Dean picked up the knife from the ground. He turned to face the angels, a triumphant smirk playing on his lips. "Well, what are you guys waiting for? Go get Anna. Unless, of course, you're scared…"

"This isn't over," Uriel growled and he made to lunge at him, but Castiel grabbed him by his shoulder.

"Oh, it looks over to me, junkless."

With this, the angels disappeared, leaving two humans and two demons behind to assess the damage.

"Are you alright?" Sam asked as Ruby limped over to him.

Ruby only sighed. "Not so much."

"What took you so long to get here?"

Ruby gave Dean a nasty look, gesturing to the bloodstains on her shirt. "Sorry I'm late with the demon delivery. I was only being _tortured."_

"Oh, woe is you," Adeliza snapped. "Do me a favor, Dean, and get that knife out of my sight."

Dean obliged, stowing it away in his coat before turning to face Sam. "I got to hand it to you, Sammy. Bringing them all together all at once— angels and demons — it was a damn good plan."

Sam smiled. "Yeah, well, when you got godzilla and mothra on your ass, best to get them out of your way and let you fight."

Adeliza, for one, knew _nothing_ of this plan but she couldn't say she was pissed about that. Admittedly, it _was_ a pretty amazing plan, even if it meant she got the shit beat out of her. "Did I hear Anna becoming an angel or was that bullshit? Because if I have to deal with another fucking holy being, I'm going to end up a fucking nun."

Sam and Dean both imagined _Adeliza_ as a nun, and they couldn't take it anymore— they burst into laughter at all the shit thrown at them in the past few days, of how they worked with three demons against angels, how they cracked jokes with each other.

It was safe to say that John Winchester was probably turning in his grave.


	15. The Great Magician

The search for Limbo was ongoing.

Raum was extremely pissed about her suggestion that he and Zella go looking alone, so to keep her only demon friend happy, Adeliza decided to postpone that particular detail. For now. Sooner or later, he'd have to brave the road trip and when that time came, she wouldn't put up with any whining from the clingy bodyguard. In the meantime, however, Adeliza figured there was no harm in accompanying her two-men army on their mapping excursions.

Their journey began shortly after they had resolved the issue with Anna. Raum and Adeliza stuck around for a few drinks with the Winchesters— which was now a completely hilarious scenario, looking back on it. Afterward, they went back to the bomb shelter, only to find that Zella had finished redecorating it.

Adeliza liked her funny little psychic. Zella wasn't entirely comfortable around Raum— which annoyed the man to no end. Funnily enough, Zella almost idolized Adeliza, since she was the one who saved her from Alistair. Adeliza wasn't sure why. She was a rather unpleasant person, actually, while Raum was the nicest demon in existence. Like a sunshine boy.

That was definitely another nickname to add to the list.

Anyway, because Adeliza was rather fond of her ticket to limbo, she didn't want Zella dying on her, or getting kidnapped by a demon. She noticed Sam's tattoo and decided that was exactly what Zella needed— even at the risk of the Winchesters tainting her saint reputation.

Adeliza looked around the redecorated bomb shelter, curious. She must have left through the hatch and gone shopping, likely with the money Raum liked to steal off unsuspecting businessmen. (A step down from stealing gold from kings as he claimed, but you had work with what you got.)

The decor reminded her of an enchanted forest, as silly as that sounded. Zella had strung fairy lights around the place and while the bed in the corner didn't look particularly big, it certainly looked comfortable.

"Who put that together?" Adeliza asked, looking at the bed.

Zella looked over to Raum and glared, signing with her hands, "He tried and failed. I did it."

Adeliza didn't know much sign language, but she was able to interpret it enough to get the point. Raum was quite fluent like he was with most languages and Adeliza's knowledge of ASL was what she could pick up from Zella's conversations with him, and what Raum interpreted for her. She couldn't complain about the proces;: it was certainly faster than Zella writing out what she wanted to say.

"I did not fail. You're just picky," Raum scowled.

Zella rolled her eyes and didn't bother replying.

Fighting the urge to laugh, Adeliza focused back on the task at hand. "Okay. Zella, we need to get you a demon-warding tattoo today, and to do that you have to meet the Winchesters. Stay away from Dean. He's a whore and will flirt with you."

"You can't stop her from finding true love," Raum said as Zella gave her the thumbs up.

This time it was Adeliza who scowled. "He is not influencing our psychic, Raum. They had their own, they burnt her eyes out."

'They what now?' Zella mouthed, her eyes wide.

"On accident," Raum rolled his eyes. "You'll be fine; worst case scenario they try and save you from Adeliza."

Zella narrowed her eyes at the demon again. She signed something at him so viciously that Adeliza couldn't follow along, but whatever it was, it sure as hell offended him.

"Say it again, I dare you," Raum said, glaring. When he used this tone with Reilly, the young demon had been extremely intimidated— Zella, however, held no such fear of Raum. She only repeated what she had signed, much slower this time. Whatever she said was so rude that Adeliza hadn't even learned it yet.

"Okay, kids, tattoo time!" Adeliza interrupted their escalating feud. "Zella, stop tormenting Raum. Raum, quit being a little bitch."

"You got it, boss," Raum mock-saluted her, before checking the time. "It's 1 in the afternoon. Did you tell them you were coming?"

"Nope. They'll find out soon enough," she shrugged. Raum only sighed, shaking his head.

She took out her phone and shot Sam a quick text. She figured he'd be more willing to give her his location that Dean would.

 **I Stole Your Brother's Soul: Hey, where are you right now?**

 **Per usual, he answered right away.**

 **Demon Vampire Freak: Why?**

 **I Stole Your Brother's Soul: It's a surprise.**

 **Demon Vampire Freak: A nice surprise?**

 _What is this_ , _social_ _hour?_ _Just_ _tell_ me what I _want to know_!' Adeliza thought.

 **I Stole Your Brother's Soul: An AMAZING surprise.**

 **Demon Vampire Freak: ok then... we're in Sioux Falls. Burger Joint downtown.**

"This will be fun," Adeliza said to herself. Before Raum could ask what she meant, Adeliza grabbed Zella's arm and disappeared on the spot.

They were indeed in a burger joint, in a corner booth too large for the two of them. Zella, who hadn't yet mastered teleportation as she was a human, was standing on the seat while Adeliza appeared next to Sam. Raum appeared a second later, squeezing in between Zella and Adeliza (much to the psychic's annoyance). In a matter of seconds, the Winchesters' booth was now cramped with two demons and a psychic.

It was like the start of a bad joke.

Dean choked on his drink, while Sam sunk down in his seat in an attempt to hide from his brother's glare.

"Really?" Dean scowled, "you invited the demon squad?"

"They invited themselves," Sam defended, "she said it was important."

"Actually I said it was a surprise," Adeliza corrected. Sam gave her a 'come on, man' kind of look. "But yes, I guess it is kind of important. Winchesters, this is Zella, my psychic. She's helping me kick Lilith's ass."

Sam raised his eyebrows while Dean looked over the psychic, analyzing. He must have then come to the conclusion that Zella was indeed hot because he suddenly had a satisfied grin on his face.

Zella, who had taken Adeliza's warning very seriously, looked at him with narrowed, suspicious eyes.

"Dean Winchester," he introduced, trying to be suave.

Adeliza leaned over Raum in order to reach Zella and then hissed in her ear, "resist!"

Dean shot her a glare.

"You can't flirt with her anyway," Raum scoffed, "she's mute. Which is one of the reasons why we really need to get her an anti-possession tattoo."

"Let me get this straight. You came all this way to get us to get your friend a tattoo?" Sam asked Adeliza, clearly having trouble processing this. It wasn't every day you got close enough with a demon that they could just pop in for house calls.

"Ummm, yeah? I thought what Raum said was pretty self-explanatory." Adeliza spotted the pile of pickles Sam took off his burger, and she popped one into her mouth. He narrowed his eyes at this but before he could comment on it, Adeliza shot him the puppy-dog eyes.

She used this on him only a few times in the past, whenever Ruby wasn't around. Nobody else was aware of this, but Adeliza and Sam really were comfortable around each other in the three months they had been working together. Minus all the times that Adeliza shamed him for leeching demon blood, they formed somewhat of a friendship. She tried to tone it down when Dean came back, but as it was apparent no one was going to kill the other, she might as well make herself comfortable.

Sam narrowed his eyes even further as Adeliza continued to stare at him.

"Please, Samuel?" She asked innocently, "you wouldn't want Zella to die, would you? Look at that face."

He did indeed look at that face, and Zella shot him a matching pair of puppy dog eyes.

"Fine," Sam sighed, "but you have to help us on this case. It should entertain you; it's about magicians."

"I was a magician once," Raum said offhandedly, stealing a pickle from Adeliza's hand.

Adeliza rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I've heard your speech before," in a low voice, she said, in a remarkable Raum impression, "'Hi, my name's Raum, I used to steal from king's and tormented entire civilizations!'"

Zella silently laughed and reached over Raum to high-five her.

"That is not what I sound like," Raum glared. "And I'm not kidding. Ever hear of Ronny Cross?"

For the second time that day, Dean choked on his drink. He hastily swallowed before shooting Raum a disbelieving look. "No way. _You_ were the famous Old Western magician Ronny Cross?"

Raum sat up a bit straighter. "That I was. I didn't even use any demon shortcuts," he said proudly.

"Jesus _Christ_ ," Adeliza muttered as Dean began interrogating 'Ronny Cross'. "Come on, Sam, let's leave these two nerds to themselves."

Sam smiled. For once, he wasn't being called the nerd. It was weird how often people called him that when Dean Winchester was the biggest geek in history.

"Gladly," he said, and the three went on their way.

* * *

Zella's tattooing process went quickly. She chose to get it on her shoulder blade, and in an hour, the tattoo artist was finished. This greatly pleased the psychic who had been cooped up in the bunker for so long.

Adeliza relayed this all to Sam, who was entirely sympathetic. He was even kind enough to give Zella a hex bag, so she could walk through London without fear of being hunted down by demons.

Afterward, Zella was far too excited and wanted to explore London as soon as possible. Adeliza couldn't blame her; it worked out better, anyhow. There was no way she was risking her Limbo specialist because of some dumb magician hunting case. Adeliza dropped Zella off in London before returning to Sam, to take care of her part of the deal.

"You're gonna need an actual FBI outfit this time," Sam had informed the two demons. Technically Raum didn't have to help out, but since he was a clingy bodyguard, he stuck around anyway.

Raum, the bastard, already had an FBI suit at the bunker. And to fulfill his CSI Miami fantasies he threw on a pair of shades. Even though it was daytime.

Adeliza went the more criminal route and stole a white button up, a blazer, and a skirt from a high-end clothing store. Because of her handy dandy teleportation, it only took the demons about 15 minutes to get situated.

The job was already off to a rocky start. Adeliza, who had little patience for 'magicians' to start with, was immediately annoyed by the leather-jacketed, dog-chained asshole they were approaching.

A group of girls and cameras surrounded the raccoon-eyed prick, who began his speech: "This isn't a trick...okay? I-I don't do 'tricks'."

"Silly emo, tricks are for kids," Raum whispered to Adeliza.

"That's so lame," she whispered back. "Shhhh, I'm prepared to be amazed."

After snickering, the two tuned back into the magician's act.

"This is a demonstration. About demons and angels, love and lust..."

"Demons?" Adeliza gasped, grabbing Raum's arm and shaking it slightly. "Omygod, Raum, _demons_ , can you believe it?"

"And angels," Raum returned, in an almost convincing awed state. "Boy oh boy, I bet Castiel wishes he were here right now!"

"You two are awful," Sam shook his head while Dean tried not to laugh at their reactions. "That's Jeb Dexter."

"I don't even wanna know how you know that," Dean gave him a look of deep disappointment.

"You can't even talk after that 'Ronny Cross' business in the diner," Sam scoffed.

Dean glared at his brother. "Hey, Ronny Cross was a legend."

"Thanks, man," Raum nodded.

Dean nodded back at him.

" _Shuuuut_ _uuuup_!" Adeliza groaned, trying to listen to Jeb's douchebaggery.

"No matter how messed up it gets, don't touch me, okay? For your own safety." With that, Jeb took a deep breath in. Adeliza had no idea what she was expecting, but it certainly wasn't for Jeb's eyes to roll up into the back of his head and for him to act like he was getting possessed. He writhed around, pressing his hands into the deck of cards he held, and with a roar of anguish, he flung the cards behind him. "Go back to hell, demon!" He screamed, breathing heavily.

Dean looked over for Adeliza's reaction and he wasn't surprised to see how utterly unamused she looked.

She was _offended_. This was a truly disgusting amount of bad.

"I'm gonna possess him for real," Adeliza glared, already letting some black smoke come out of her mouth as she spoke. Without even looking, Raum clamped his hand over her mouth and watched as Jeb looked at the ace card stuck to the window.

"Is this your card?" He asked breathlessly.

"Ow, _fuck_!" Raum pulled back his hand and rubbed at the bite mark Adeliza gave him. At least she stopped trying to possess the magician.

"You gotta be kidding me, a fake demon possession?" Dean scoffed. "You know, 'Liza, I'm offended on your behalf. I can't believe people actually fall for that crap."

Uh, ' _Liza_?

...she could live with that nickname.

"It's not all crap," Sam defended lightly.

"Gotta agree, that was a solid trick, if not layered on a bit thick," Raum nodded.

Dean shot them both disgusted looks. "What part of that was not a steaming pile of B.S?"

"Okay, that was crap," Sam relented, "but that's not all magicians. Takes skill."

Dean rolled his eyes and turned to Adeliza. "Sammy here was into all that stuff. Had a wand, deck of cards, everything."

Adeliza gave a scandalized gasp. " _Samuel_!"

"Dude, I was 13. It was a phase," Sam scowled.

Dean stopped walking and turned to him, suddenly serious. "It just bugs me. Actually, it offends me. Playing at demons and magic, when the real thing will kill you bloody."

"I agree with Winchester," Adeliza said, crossing her arms. She was still tempted to possess Jeb's stupid meat vessel and show him a real demonstration of demons and list. "It's insulting."

"The only reason I liked Ronny Cross was because he — thanks Raum— didn't B.S. about that. He was strictly guns and death traps."

Adeliza nudged Raum in the ribs with her elbow. "Guns and traps, cool guy?"

"I was pretty slick, I'll admit it," Raum sighed dramatically, smoothing back his hair.

"Oh, I'm swooning."

* * *

Investigation-wise, Adeliza wasn't much help. She didn't have the people-pleasing skills and was too much of a bitch to be 'bad cop'. So Raum helped the brothers with the questioning.

Their inquiries led them to a shady looking building near an alleyway. Raum stayed with Sam, but Adeliza wanted some action. She went with Dean to see 'Chief'.

Dean rapped on the metal door, and it didn't take long for an answer. Through the metal screen, Adeliza watched as a tall—very tall— man opened up, looking at the two expectantly.

Slick, Adeliza thought, looking at the man appreciatively. He looked a bit like Raum, but so far he hadn't said anything.

He looked from Adeliza to Dean, then back to Adeliza. He didn't say anything.

"I'm, uh, here to see Chief," Dean said, giving the man an expectant look.

He raised his eyebrows at him then opened the door. Dean held it open for Adeliza as she followed the man down the stairs, Dean behind her.

"Stay here," The man said as they rounded the staircase. "Don't touch anything."

As soon as they were left alone, Adeliza touched something.

"Oh, seriously?" Dean rolled his eyes.

"Come on," Adeliza grinned, touching the pillar. "You know you want to."

"Literally the devil on my shoulder," he mumbled, but with a smirk he too touched the pillar.

Immediately, a door from the end of the room swung open, and exiting from the blasting music came a leather-clad man with a vest and a whip in his hand.

"You are really gonna get it tonight, big boy," The leather-clad man said, staring at Dean. He glanced at Adeliza, just noticing her. "You too, little girl."

Eyes wide, Adeliza stepped behind her companion, grabbing onto his arm.

 _Nope_. Nope, nope, nope. _Noooope_!

"There's been a misunderstanding," Dean said, looking quite dead inside. "I think we've been had."

"Oh, you ain't been had 'till you've been had by the chief."

Dean's lips parted in shock, and Adeliza tightened her grip on his arm. "I will kill him for us, Dean," she hissed, "I swear to god."

Before he could either confirm or deny her offer, the leather man spoke up again. "Oh, uh, before we get started— what's your safe word?"

Dean gagged slightly, while Adeliza loosened her grip.

 _Oh_.

* * *

While Adeliza and Dean resolved their Leather Crisis, Raum and Sam were in the motel room, researching.

Well, Sam was researching. Or trying to. Raum kept distracting him with magic tricks— which were, to his credit, wicked cool.

"Any other day I'd tell you to shut up and let me research," Sam said, slightly impressed as he found a card in his pocket. "That's good, man."

"Well, I'm no Jeb Dexter, but I know my stuff," Raum said arrogantly. He gave up the act and sat down on the bed, loosening his tie. "In all seriousness, that one was pure bullshit; I used my demon powers."

"Yeah, I figured," Sam smiled.

They were interrupted by a knock on the door, which was odd considering Dean hadn't told them they were on their way back. It was standard protocol between hunters, even demons.

Sam quietly moved over to the door and peered through the peephole. Raum stared, not bothering to stand up but definitely paying attention. The Hunter looked annoyed and sighed as he reluctantly opened the door, revealing a pissed-off looking Ruby.

"What are you doing here, Ruby?" Sam sighed.

"I should be asking you the same thing," she glared, letting herself in. Immediately she noticed Raum and scowled. "Hey, who the hell even is this guy?" She demanded, "he's a demon, Sam, and he was there during all the Anna business too."

"He's working for Adeliza," Sam defended, "I'm working a job. He knows magic."

That was technically true. Sam didn't really want to get into how he, Adeliza, and Raum had been working together as of late. For one, it wasn't any of Ruby's business, and to be honest it was relieving having people around who didn't tempt him to drink demon blood.

"The whole world's about to be engulfed in hellfire, and you're in magictown, U.S.A. with Adeliza's worker?"

Raum would tell her to shut her mouth, but he was too entertained by how pissed off Ruby was. He'd have to tell Adeliza about this later— maybe after he was done egging them on.

"You got something against magic?" Sam chuckled.

"That would almost be funny, if 34 seals hadn't been broken already," Ruby snapped. "34, Sam. That's over halfway. The angels are losing this war. Every day is one day closer and if someone doesn't do something soon—"

"And that someone is me?" Sam demanded, stalking toward her.

"Who else would it be?!"

"I don't know where these seals are! I don't know squat. So why don't you tell me where you'd like me to start?"

'Get her, Sam' Raum thought, fighting back a grin as he watched this tennis match. If he was sure they wouldn't see it, he would pull out his phone and call Adeliza so she could hear all this. She would love that.

Ruby glared right back at Sam. "Well you can quit dicking around here, for one thing. And if the seals are being broken, you might wanna go after the one doing the breaking."

"Lilith?" The hunter asked with raised brows.

"You're the only one who can stop her, Sam. So step up, and kill the little bitch," Ruby bumped her shoulder into him as she passed, and called over her shoulder, "might as well lump Adeliza into that category as well. You can't trust her, Sam— she's not friends with you. When her side of the deal is up, you'll be dead before you hit the floor. We need to deal with her."

Raum felt a stab of anger go through him as he appeared in front of Ruby, wrapping his fingers around her throat. He slammed her into the wall, ignoring Sam's protests.

"You won't so much as breathe on Adeliza Hyem," Raum growled, tightening his grip. Ruby gasped for air, clawing desperately at his grip. "I know what you did, Ruby. I know who you set free."

"Raum, stop!" Sam said forcefully. "She's still helpful."

Raum's head snapped over to look at the hunter, and the dark, midnight blue color of his eyes sent Sam's mind reeling. Didn't they use to be black?

"I don't care how helpful she is," Raum barked at him, then looked back at Ruby. "You threaten me, I'll send you to hell. You threaten her? Oh, Ruby, they won't be able to find what's left of your soul… do you understand?"

He didn't wait for an answer. He didn't need one; as soon as he dropped Ruby to the ground, she scrambled away from him, over to Sam. Raum's furious stance remained as he stared at the hunter.

"I would hope you and Dean and Adeliza and I have been through enough together, that you would trust that we're on your team. Keep your demon in line, Sam, and I'll keep mine."

With that, Raum disappeared from the room, leaving Sam in slight shock. He'd never seen Raum snap before– truly snap. Going by his unique eye color, he was more powerful than Adeliza.

So why did he work for her?

The four regrouped in a lobby. Raum was back to normal, being his pleasantly dramatic self, and Sam almost couldn't believe the change. He and Ruby managed to finish their conversation and Sam was left with a lot to think about. One thing he didn't think much about, however, was Ruby's suggestion of killing Adeliza. There was no way. Even when he suggested it to Dean, he didn't really mean it, he just said what his brother wanted to hear. And now, with a very powerful Raum as her bodyguard, he definitely wasn't about to.

Dean and Adeliza approached the two men, both looking quite horrified.

"Find anything interesting?" Dean asked, attempting to act normal.

"Uh, no," Sam lied, glancing at Raum. Raum nodded slightly, letting the man know that he wasn't about to rat him out. "You?"

"Nothing I want to talk about, or think about, ever again," Dean shuddered.

It took a scarring amount of time to convince the Leather Man that they weren't foreplaying, during which Dean had to knock the man out after Adeliza set his whip on fire.

Thinking of this, Adeliza lay a hand on Raum's upper arm to get his attention. "Never let me follow tall boys into basements, Raum. Never ever."

The demon cast her an amused look and patted her hand, fighting back a laugh. "I promise, Boss."

She nodded solemnly, before something caught her eye. Or rather someone. It was that old man who led them to 'Chief's', and she planned to murder him.

"Winchester, we have business to attend to," Adeliza hissed. Dean followed her gaze and the look on his face turned dark. He didn't say anything, but the two sped over to them, plastering fake smiles on their faces.

"So, _chief_ , huh?" Dean asked with false pleasantness.

"What's the matter... chief not your type?" One of the old men asked amusedly.

Dean chuckled humorously, his smile dropping. "You know, I could have you both arrested for obstruction of justice."

"How? You're no fed," Tarot guy rolled his eyes.

"We con people for a living, son. Takes more than a fake badge to get past us," the other added.

Dean faltered, looking to Adeliza, the supposed queen of bullshitting.

' _God_ _damnit_ ,' she sighed internally, then let out a fake laugh. "Yeah, sorry about that, sirs," she said in a very kind way, despite how hard she wanted to end them. "Dean here wanted to work on his disguise skills.. they're aspiring magicians, you see."

"Yeah, w-we came to the convention 'cause we thought we could learn something," Sam said nervously, pulling at his collar.

"Yeah, get some ideas for our new show," Dean added.

"Oh, what kind of show?" Tarot guy asked skeptically.

"Save them, Raum," Adeliza whispered.

This time it was Raum's turn to sigh. He plastered a charming grin on his face and straightened his jacket. "It's a brother act, sir. I've been outta the business for a while so I thought I'd manager these two, spice things up a bit. They got a lot to learn, though."

He said this with so much certainty that if Adeliza didn't know him, even she might have believed it. She and Raum were standing side by side, so from behind her back, she fist-bumped him.

As the show began to start, the white-haired geezer looked at them. "You wanna learn something? Stick around."

Adeliza and Raum took a seat while the Winchesters stood. Before the show started, Raum got some drinks, and the two watched as Jay took the stage. He was performing something called the Executioner— Adeliza wasn't familiar with it, but as a rope was tied around Jay's neck, she was getting more interested by the second. Raum wasn't so impressed.

"Gotta tell you, it's not that interesting," Raum explained to Sam, whose interest was also peaked.

Sam raised his eyebrows. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it."

Sam gave the demon the biggest bitchface ever and even Adeliza tore her focus away from the ticking clock long enough to glare at him. "That was lame, Raum," she glared.

"I don't think he's gonna make it," Dean alerted. Adeliza looked back to see that Jay's time ran out, and he hung limply for a few moments. Then, something funny happened. The lights turned out and a second later, Jay was standing right side up, not a scratch on him.

"Oh, I call bullshit," Adeliza scowled.

"For sure," Raum agreed.

"Are you kidding?" Dean applauded with the rest of the crowd as Jay bowed, "that was freakin' amazing!"

Sam cocked his head and stared at the stage suspiciously. "I gotta agree with Raum and Adeliza here. That was... not humanly possible."

"Whatever it is, it sucked! I wanted to see some magicians die." Adeliza folded her arms over her chest with a sullen glare. "I'll be at the hotel. Wake me up when there's death."

With that, she disappeared.

Raum rolled his eyes. "Pouty," he accused to open air, then he too disappeared a second later.

* * *

Adeliza managed to fall asleep again, a sensation she wasn't used to yet. As much as she'd like to obsess over how this was possible for her, she found that she couldn't care too much. Sleep was certainly welcome in her line of work.

When she awoke, it was morning, and it was to Dean arriving with breakfast. Dean didn't know what Adeliza liked so he just went with a safe bet and got her a jar of pickles. She couldn't complain— food was food.

Sam settled into his research, and after a quick shower Adeliza changed into a less professional outfit. Now that she didn't have to be a fed, she was free to dress as informal as she wanted to.

For once she decided to help with the research. Jar of pickles in her lap, she sat cross-legged in a chair, a giant book in hand.

"Looks like this guy Jay was a pretty big deal in the 70s," Sam spoke up from where he sat at his computer.

"Which in magician land means what, exactly?" Dean asked without looking up.

"Big enough to play Radio City Music Hall," Sam shrugged.

"What got him stuck in their 'Where Are They Now' file?"

"He got old," Sam and Raum chorused. Adeliza snorted as she bit off the end of a pickle. Magic nerds.

This new piece of information got Dean's attention. "Okay, so maybe incredible Jay is using real magic to make a stage comeback," he suggested.

Sam thought about it, "Huh, could be possible. Some kind of spell that works a death transference. But how does the tarot card mix into it?"

"Cursed deck," Adeliza spoke up, "bet you'll have to burn it."

"Yeah, maybe. I don't know," Sam shrugged again and went back to typing.

"Man... hope I die before I get old," Dean sighed, heaving himself to his feet.

Adeliza shot him a quizzical look. If she were more sensitive, she might have been offended by that. She wouldn't mind getting to live to the end of her life.

"The whole thing seems brutal, doesn't it?"

Sam seemed to follow her train of thought. It was an odd thing for Dean to say, considering he'd been brought back to life not too long ago. "You think we will?" He asked. "Die before we get old?"

"Haven't we both already?" Dean grinned.

"You know what I mean, Dean. I mean, do you think we'll still be chasing demons when we're sixty?" Sam asked, "no offense, guys."

Adeliza waved him off, "Nah, none taken."

"I think we'll be dead, for good. You wanna end up like Travis? Or Gordan?" Dean asked, and Sam scoffed at him.

"There's Bobby," he reminded.

"Oh, yeah, there's a poster child for growing old gracefully," Dean rolled his eyes.

Sam shrugged again, but Adeliza could tell it bothered him. Honestly, she could see both sides. Maybe they'd go out in a blaze of glory, or maybe they'd ride life out to the finish line. Either way, it was best not to think about it.

"Maybe we'll be different," Sam suggested.

"What kinda kool-aid you been drinking, Sam? It either ends bloody or sad. That's just the life." Dean acted like it was no big deal to him, but Sam looked so damn sad and it was annoying Adeliza a little bit.

"Yikes, I'm gonna go, uh, tend to my pickles," Adeliza said lamely, then disappeared. She had no desire to overhear their existential crisis— been there, done that, got over it.

* * *

Despite agreeing to help the Winchesters, there wasn't much need to follow them around the entire time. Four was a crowd— literally, it was a lot of people to sneak around. So while Dean and Sam tracked Jay down, Raum and Adeliza started performing stupid card tricks on the street.

Or rather, Raum performed the card tricks, while Adeliza pretended to be a gushing fangirl in order to attract a crowd. And damn, did it work— the ladies, and some men, formed a group in front of Raum as he performed simple tricks without the dramatics that Jeb used.

By the time the Winchesters had Jay held up, Raum had an entire magician's hat full of cash, as well as the bunny they stole from backstage at Jeb's rehearsal.

They zapped over to the Winchesters as they finished tying the man to a chair. Then, the brothers went across the room to talk. As they talked Jay started wiggling in the chair to escape the bonds.

Adeliza watched but made no move to stop him.

"Think we should warn them?" Raum whispered, staring at Jay's escape process.

"They were the ones stupid enough to tie a magician up and then leave him unattended," Adeliza whispered back. "If anything, I think this is a valuable life lesson."

Raum only nodded. Sure enough, Jay slipped through the robes and fled into the closet, and as the Winchesters turned around, the Demonic Duo pretended they were hyperfocused on the cash-filled top hat.

Dean sighed, "Guess we should've seen that one coming."

Boom. Lesson learned.

"Come on, he couldn't have gotten that far." Sam led the way out of the room while the other two stayed, waiting for Jay to exit the closet.

Sure enough, he did, but he froze upon seeing the two demons.

"Just go, we'll give you a head start," Adeliza said with a creepy smile, stroking the red-eyed bunny.

"But we will find you. We always will, Jay," Raum beamed, tilting his head.

Looking quite terrified, Jay sprinted out of the room, as the two demons burst into laughter.

* * *

Weirdly, Sam and Dean weren't answering her texts. Maybe they were pissed about the whole 'letting Jay escape' thing, but Adeliza couldn't bring herself to care. She was liking this whole magic show thing, especially now that the stakes were higher than ever.

Jay was doing another death trap, and this time Adeliza hoped it'd be the one. The killing trick.

"Please die, please die, please die," Adeliza whispered under her breath as the fuse reached its end. The entire room screamed, and Adeliza beamed as the spikes stabbed through his body. There was a resonating silence afterward, and it lasted for so long that she was almost certain he had died.

"You morbid woman," Raum rolled his eyes.

"Shut _uuuup_ ," she hissed.

The curtains swung open all of a sudden, and Adeliza groaned, sinking back in her chair as the entire room burst into loud applause.

"God dammit—" she started to cuss when a loud, shrill scream cut her off. It was from backstage; she didn't bother getting up, she just teleported to the source, eager to see the new bloodshed.

She had no idea she hated magicians so much until this hunt. She'd have to thank Sam for that.

On the floor, the white-haired man, Charlie, lay on the ground with bloodied spike marks soaking through his shirt.

Vengefully, Adeliza let herself smile. That's what he gets for siccing Chief after her and Dean. As Jay looked over to her, she immediately wiped all traces of evil from her face and instead gave him a concerned look.

"I... I need your friends' help," Jay gasped out.

* * *

"You know, we should really be taking this hunting thing more seriously," Raum informed his demon companion as they looked through all the magician's backstage supplies. The Winchesters filled them in on Charlie's involvement in all of this— apparently, he was the one behind the deaths.

This left Adeliza and Raum on stakeout duty. But of course, they didn't take it seriously.

"I mean, what do they expect? We're demons. I should be on the other side of this hunt," Adeliza shrugged. She picked up a black cape and fastened it around her, giving a twirl, "gotta say, I'm disappointed I didn't get to be the hot assistant for your guys' act. I could've been the magical Vanna White."

"Okay, so you know _that_ reference but you don't know how many states there are?" Raum demanded.

Adeliza pulled a face at him and pulled the hood over her head. "I'm not American! I don't have to know jack shit."

"Current queen of England?"

"Shut up."

Just then, a suspiciously Dean Winchester pitched scream came from the stage. Adeliza, cape billowing behind her, ran out— only to see a rope hoist Dean up into the air.

"Let him down!" Sam shouted at Charlie.

"Just leave me and my friends alone," the man replied.

" _Ooooor_ , I could just do this," Adeliza suggested. Pulling out a plastic white-tipped wand, she pointed it at the rope above Dean. "Abracadabra!" And just like that, a small jet of fire shot out of her fingertip and set the rope aflame.

"We're going to have to talk about your pyrokinesis at some point, you know," Raum informed.

Charlie shot Adeliza an annoyed look and with a snap of his finger, the fire on the rope was put out, and another rope dropped down to wrap around her own neck. Again, she tried to set it on fire, but the rope was just not lighting.

"Too bad that I got ups," Adeliza snarked, pulling on the noose so it was slightly looser, and with a strong swing, she flipped so that her legs were wrapped in the rope, and she hung upside down spider-man style.

Eye level with Raum, she couldn't help but wink. "Wanna do the kiss scene?"

He groaned, "You've seen Spider-Man, yet you don't know the queen of England."

"Shut it." She scowled. She tried to get loose, but the rope tightened around her foot. _Damn._ "Since I'm a bit, uh, tied up, mind helping Winchester?"

"And I thought you were Spider-Man," Raum muttered, but walked over to Dean. Since he was so tall, he was able to balance Dean's legs on his shoulder so that he could stand up and allow himself to breath— but just barely. He was up too high for any other kind of assistance.

Adeliza watched as Jay stabbed a knife into himself, only for Charlie to begin bleeding instead. Lucky for Sam, who was now tied down to the death table, and for Dean, who was a hair away from choking, Charlie's death released them.

Unlucky for Adeliza, she was upside down, and she landed on her upper back.

"Oh, fuck!" Adeliza let out a muffled groan, the cape having fell over her head. She swooped it back and got to her feet, only to meet the disappointed eyes of Raum.

"To think, you'll be the queen of hell someday," Raum sighed, shaking his head.

"I'll have a cape as I sit on my throne," Adeliza sniffed. "Winchester, Samuel, you two alive?"

"Yeah," Dean coughed, rubbing his throat. "Uh, thanks for that, Raum."

"Anytime," Raum dismissed, then looked back at Adeliza. "Um, I think I'll grab Adeliza and head back to Zella, if we're done here?"

"Yeah, I think we're good," Sam nodded. "We'll, uh, we'll see you around."

With a final wave, Raum grabbed Adeliza's shoulder and the two disappeared.

They appeared back in the bunker, only to see a certain blue eyed angel standing in the living room, looking over their wall of Limbo.

Adeliza froze, internally panicking. He knew about Limbo. How did he even find this place? If Castiel was here to shut this operation down— or even worse, shut _them_ down— then they were _fucked._

Castiel turned to look at them, regarding the demons grimly.

"We need to talk."


End file.
